Digimon Tamer - Pirates
by Wolffury
Summary: Takato Matsuki is a young man eager for adventure. when a treasure map from the greatest pirate of a past age fall into their lap, he and his friend Henry along with their Digimon partners set off on a voyage to discover the treasure. In order to due so though, they'll need the help of a fearsome pirate, and she isn't the friendliest of people. Pirate AU. Rukato pairing.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dogs and cats, dragons of all ages. Welcome to my first ever Digimon fanfic! So I recently watched Digimon Tamers, which got me interested in reading tons of fanfic's about it. Then a thought occurred to me as an idea came to mind. "I have seen multiple pirate AU's for several other fandoms, but there are almost none for Digimon (or at least none where the characters from Tamers are the main focus)." So since I had the idea for one, I thought to myself, 'why not?' **_

_**Anyway, once you've read through please feel free to leave a review telling me of what you guys think. **_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Treasure Awaits**

* * *

In the Northern Pacific Ocean, far away from the mainland, is an island named Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a fairly large island, not nearly big enough to be considered a continent, but still larger than the majority of the islands in the area. The island was also home to a town that shared the same name. It was a quiet island, not much happened aside from when the town's local celebrity returned home from traveling abroad.

Sitting on the beach staring out over the ocean was a nineteen year old boy named Takato Matsuki. He had messy light brown hair and crimson red eyes. He wore a pair of brown boots with tan trousers, a blue hooded shirt, and a pair of goggles on his head. He was out here like he was at this same time every day, daydreaming about going on an adventure and sailing on the open seas.

"Takatomon? Can we eat now?"

The young man looked to his left to see the red dino sitting next to him with a pleading look on his face. He was very familiar with that look. It was the one that the wing-eared raptor used whenever he wanted something to eat. The talking dinosaur had quickly built a reputation for having a bottomless pit for a stomach.

It had been quite a surprise to Takato when he found Guilmon. Especially since he had only drawn him several hours before. Guilmon was a rare creature known as a digimon. Very little was known about digimon aside from that they showed up from time to time around the world. Digimon were feared by the world though since all previous recorded appearances of them resulted in death and destruction. Hence why he couldn't let his parents know that he had one.

"Okay Guilmon." Takato sighed as he got up. He looked to the sky to see the sun was at its peek in the sky before muttering to himself, "Is it really that time already?"

As he got up, he picked up a strange device from next to where he had been sitting. The peculiar item was silver with a red circle surrounding a strange "window" in the center of it along with two red buttons below the window, and a small orange one down and to the right of the glass that seemed to activate it. This device was called a D-arc, or so said the magical writing when he first found it. The device had appeared to Takato the night he created Guilmon. The device came in flash of bright light. When Takato picked it up out of curiosity, words appeared hovering over the device saying, **D-arc online. **A compass then appeared, guiding him to a mysterious fog where he found his new pet digimon.

* * *

The two set off for one of the few sanctuaries where they didn't have to be afraid of someone discovering Guilmon. Takato kept him hidden in an unfinished stone shed that was dug into the hills behind his house. Once they got to his backyard on the edge of town they separated with Guilmon heading to his shed, while Takato snuck into the back of his family's bakery to sneak out the stale bread.

Thirty minutes later and Guilmon had successfully scarfed down ten loafs of bread and a couple of pastries. Takato just sat down and began to draw with the supplies he had gotten from his house while he was retrieving the bread. He was actually a pretty good artist, but couldn't afford to go to an official art school due to his parents' lack of fortune.

His current project was of a dream he had had the night before. There was a young woman with a digimon fighting another digimon. The one that sided with the girl was a humanoid fox in appearance, while the other was a large cat made of fire. The woman had her hair in a short, spiky ponytail and held a card between the index and middle finger of her right hand, and a D-arc with blue detailing in her left hand. The winner of the battle would end up being the girl and the fox digimon.

"Hey Takato!" a voice shouted, disrupting his focus on the drawing. He looked up to see his friend, Henry, running up the hill towards him and Guilmon. The boy had grey eyes with blue hair, and was dressed in a black shirt with an orange vest and brown pants. The boy carried a large satchel over his shoulder as it bounced against his leg. A large white and green colored rabbit ear hung out from beneath the satchel's flap.

"Hey Henry," Takato greeted with a small wave as the navigator-in-training slowed to a stop in front of him. The goggle wearing man just waited for his friend to catch his breath. He knew it must have been important if he ran all the way from his studies. Then the owner of the floppy ear popped out of the satchel with a cheerful smile. "Hi Terriermon."

"Hey Takatomon. You save any bread from the bottmless pit for me?" The dog-bunny greeted in return.

"How was I supposed to when I didn't even know you would be here?"

"Well, some friend you are. What person doesn't keep a back up stash for his friends?"

"Terriermon…" Henry warned the rabbit-dog. Terriermon paid no mind though and leapt off the young man's shoulder to play with Guilmon.

Terriermon was a digimon like Guilmon. Unlike Guilmon, Terriermon was a smart-aleck rather than a glutton. Close to nothing could keep his mouth shut if he had something to say. It was actually a surprise to Takato that Henry had kept the digimon a secret for as long as he had.

"It's alright Henry, I've gotten used to it. So what did you want to tell me?"

Henry stood up straight as he remembered the reason he had ran all this way in the first place. He reached back to his satchel and rummaged around for a second before pulling out a leather pouch. He undid the clasp on the pouch before opening it and producing a folded piece of old cloth.

"This…" He unfolded the cloth to reveal that it was a map with sloppy handwriting on the side of it. Takato's eyes widened as he realized that what he was looking at was a treasure map. A smile grew on his face as his eyes scanned the map before focusing on a symbol and initials in the bottom right corner of the cloth.

The symbol was a letter D made out of circles that grew from left to right with a dinosaur made of squares leaping out of the center. The initials were written sloppily, but he could make out a G.M. followed by a fancily drawn S. Had it just been the initials, Takato wouldn't have had a clue to what they mean. The symbol is what brought everything to light.

"Shibumi." He muttered loud enough for Henry to hear. Henry nodded his head as he watched his friend begin to examine the map with more eagerness than before. Takato was still careful though, since the old cloth threatened to fall apart if one wasn't careful. "I don't believe it…" he whispered before leaping up and knocking his drawing supplies all over the ground. "The greatest pirate of the past age, and this is a map to his treasure!"

Shibumi was a favorite topic of discussion among the two when they were younger, and still was to this day. Aside from being a keen pirate, his success and fame was also a result of him being the only man known to have controlled digimon. It was rumored that Shibumi had raided enough treasure to purchase an entire country and several islands if he wanted to. It was also rumored that Shibumi had hidden the key to controlling digimon amongst his treasure. Twenty-three years ago though, Shibumi and his treasure simply vanished without a trace. His legend lived on as every sailor from pirate to fisherman searched for it. Eventually, almost everyone aside a few dedicated souls gave up in the search for Shibumi's treasure.

"My dad said that he discovered it several years ago, and that he decided to let me have a try at figuring it out." Henry stated with a hint of pride.

Henry came from one of the richer families in Shinjuku. His father, Janyu Wong, was an accomplished scholar and doctor. He and Henry shared the hobby of going over old treasure maps and studying them. Henry took the hobby a little more seriously though.

"What's all this writing on the side of the map?" Takato wasn't fluent in any language other than Japanese, but Henry had shown him enough maps from other countries that he could recognize the languages. This writing, however, was in a language that he had never seen before."

"It's called Digicode. Some say that it's the same language the digimon used to speak in. There are only a handful of people left in the world who can read it. And you happen to be speaking to one of them."

"What do you mean, 'the same language the digimon used to speak?'" Takato asked as he looked up from the map.

"Well, I'm not sure why, but when I showed the map to Terrriermon he couldn't read any of it."

"Yup, the whole thing looked like gibberish to me. Of course I think anything that requires you to read is gibberish." The small digimon chipped in as he was flipped into the air over and over by Guilmon's tail.

"So what does it say?"

Henry then sighed as he folded his arms and closed his eyes, reciting the writing from memory,

"_Sea of misery and woe,_

_Filled with multiple and various a foe._

_Island's teeth will challenge your hull,_

_When you see the floating skull._

_Fifteen steps from first to last,_

_From the rocks that have been cast_

_North then west then north again,_

_Southeast then northeast, you shouldn't bend."_

Takato stared at the bluenette as he finished reciting the riddle. Unfortunately, Takato hadn't the faintest idea where the treasure could be located. All he could get was something about a floating skull, an island with teeth, and several compass directions. Alas, he didn't have as much experience with navigating the seas as he would like. The little experience he did have was a fishing trip he went on with his dad when he was eight.

"So what do we do know?" Takato asked in slight depression. A treasure map wasn't much use unless one could get the where it was leading.

That was when a small smile grew on Henry's face.

"Actually, my dad talked to Yamaki and convinced him to charter a voyage in search of the island. Not only that but he managed to get the both of us spots on the voyage as well. That's what I ran all this way to tell you."

"No way!" Takato exclaimed in excitement. "How did your dad manage to pull that off? You know how strict Yamaki is."

Mitsuo Yamaki was the leader of a Shinjuku based, anti-digimon and pirate organization known as Hypnos. They were founded to discover and execute potential leads to destroy the "digimon menace." They had several islands and even a few countries funding them. Mostly because they had been victims of digimon attacks, and the few others hoped to discover an effective way of repelling the monsters should their island be the next to fall under attack. Over the years though, several of Hypnos' investors had begun to lose faith in Yamaki's ability to produce results.

"Yamaki may be strict, but he's no fool to ignore the legends of Shibumi controlling digimon. He's beginning to get desperate for a way to stop them. It's like I said, people who can read digicode are hard to come by. As for you, I simply refused to cooperate unless they let you come along."

Takato smiled at his friend's loyalty. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and Henry had risked giving it up so that he could go with them. His smile fell though when a sad realization jumped into his mind. His arms fell to his side as he glanced at their two digimon friends playing with each other.

"What about them? If we're going to be sailing with Hypnos…" he trailed off dejectedly.

"Which is why we're going to have to take great care when sneaking them on with us." Henry threw in before his friend could continue that line of thought.

After receiving a surprised look from goggle-wearing young man, the two of them shared smiled at each other before they started planning how they were going to sneak their digimon onto the ship.

* * *

The day before the voyage was scheduled to cast off, Takato found himself spying on their ship, the _Yuggoth_. He was hiding behind some barrels and fishing nets while looking for an opportunity to sneak Guilmon onto the ship, but everyone was so busy loading things onto it that there was no way to get him on without someone noticing. Luckily for Henry, Terriermon was small enough that he could hide him among his luggage when he went on board.

"Takatomon," chimed Guilmon's childish voice from the wooden box he was hiding in. "When are we going to eat?"

Takato resisted the urge to slap his palm into his face at the saurian's endless appetite.

"Guilmon, you just ate an hour ago." He tried to reason exasperatedly.

"But that was an hour ago and I'm hungry now." The red dino countered with his yellow eyes shining through a hole in the crate.

The young man sweatdropped at the digimon's response. Thankfully he was, somewhat, saved by a dog shaped hand-puppet appearing his line of vision.

"Arf! Arf!"

"Gah!" Takato jumped backwards and tripped over his own feet, causing him to land on his backside. His vision followed the arm controlling the puppet up to the person it was attached to. His eyes were met by a smiling face with brown eyes and shoulder length brown hair along with a small ponytail to the side. The girl was wearing a floor length green dress with short yellow sleeves.

"Jeri, what have I told you about scaring me like that." He sighed with a little aggravation. He and Jeri had been good friends since they were children. They had even developed a slightly romantic relationship, but that had been fairly short lived. Even afterwards they were still extremely good friends, practically brother and sister in some ways.

"But the expression on your face is always so funny." Jeri giggled as her friend picked himself off the ground. She looked to the wooden crate sitting next to Takato, "Hello Guilmon."

"Hi Jeri." Guilmon greeted as he turned the box to face the cheerful girl that always snuck him pastries behind Takato's back. Jeri was one of the three people other than Henry who knew of Guilmon's existence, the other two being Takato's friends Kazu and Kenta.

"Wha-! How did you know Guilmon was in there?" Takato demanded. It didn't sound very threatening though due to his surprise that Jeri had seen through his, _supposedly, _foolproof plan. All he got in response was Jeri smiling as she pointed at the red tail sticking out from underneath the box.

Takato quickly rushed to hide the tail back under the box while Jeri tried to hold back her laughter at his state of panic. The two then sat down on the box to try and make the scene less suspicious. They both watched as the townsfolk walked by on their daily business, completely unaware that a "dangerous monster" was hiding under an average wooden crate.

"So how did your parents take the news?" Jeri asked. She knew that going on a voyage out to see had always been one of Takato's dreams, but she would be lying if she said she wouldn't miss him.

"About as well as I expected," the young man said as he scratched the back of his head. "Dad was pretty understanding and I think he was even a little excited for me. Mom was a different situation entirely. She said I was too young to be going off on adventures, and that I was just using it as an excuse to get out of working at the bakery."

"Sounds like she doesn't want to admit that her little boy has grown up." Jeri chipped in cheerfully.

"Yeah, I know that she cares. I just she wasn't so…forceful with it."

"So, do you have a way to get Guilmon onto the ship yet?"

"No…" He replied dejectedly. If he didn't come up with something soon than he would have to leave Guilmon behind, which meant he would have to stay behind because there was no way he was leaving Guilmon.

"Hmm…" Jeri hummed as she put a finger to her chin and lifted her eyes to the sky in thought. She then turned towards Takato and lifted her hand-puppet so that it was in front of him. She then spoke in her puppy-dog voice, "_I've got an idea."_

* * *

The next day Takato stood at the edge of the gangplank with a sack slung over his shoulder as he stared up at the brigantine before him. The impressive vessel carried twenty people and was armed with sixteen guns. The tall white masts were being circled by seagulls. He was brought out of his state of daydreaming by a voice shouting at him from behind.

"Get out of the way boy!"

Takato leapt out of the way as one of the crew rolled a large barrel up the gangplank and onto the ship. A small smile appeared as he saw the letter G written on the wood and recognized it as the barrel that Guilmon was hiding in. Jeri's father owned the local tavern so most of the sailors went there for their alcoholic consumables. Due to this, Jeri had come up with the idea of hiding Guilmon in one of the rum barrels that would be loaded onto the ship. With the reassurance that his friend wouldn't be left behind, Takato stepped onto the gangplank and boarded the ship.

He looked around as he observed the deck of the ship. The crew was moving about as they got everything ready to set sail. He looked to the top of the mast and saw the Hypnos flag flapping in the wind.

"Takato!"

Takato turned around to see Janyu Wong, Henry's father, waving at him as he walked out of the main cabin. Takato returned the gesture as the older man walked up to him.

"Henry's already below deck, getting all of his stuff sorted. We're both glad that you could make it." He said with a smile.

"Well I'm glad that you convinced Yamaki to let me tag along."

"It wasn't easy to do, but Henry's told me about how much you wanted to go on an adventure out to sea. I hope you know that you'll have to pull your own weight while on this voyage though."

Takato gave a firm nod of affirmation before asking a question to the experienced scholar, "So do you have any ideas for where this island is?"

"I can't be positive; but I've got a few ideas on where it might be. I've heard about a few islands that have dangerous rocks that could be described as 'teeth.' Unfortunately I haven't seen any of them so I can't be certain."

Their conversation was brought to a halt as a whistle let out a shrill screech in the air. They turned their attention to Yamaki as he stood at the helm of the ship.

"Cast off as soon as we can. I don't want to delay this any longer than we have to." He ordered.

As the leader of Hypnos turned to address the helmsman, Janyu returned his attention to Takato. "Well, you better get your stuff put away so you can help out. Yamaki doesn't like slackers. In the meantime, I should go see how Henry's settling in"

As Janyu walked off to check on Henry, Takato returned to gazing around at the ship. He walked to the brigatine's bow and looked out to the open sea. A few thin clouds were off in the distance as the wind blew his messy hair about. He had a feeling that everything was going to turn out just fine…

* * *

Cold and wet.

That's all that Takato could feel. His body shivered violently as it bobbed up and down on the piece of hull that acted as a substitute raft. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton as he tried to open them. He wanted to hear from Guilmon, from Henry, he even wanted to hear one of Terriermon's smart mouth comments. Anything to let him know his friends were alive.

That storm had come out of nowhere. All he remembered was waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of wood cracking. He fell out of his hammock and stumbled up to the top of the deck. Only thanks to the lightning did he see the giant rock sticking out of the see and crash into the ship. That had been right before a wave had swept him off the deck.

After that, all he remembered was swimming with all his might, trying to stay above the water. He couldn't remember for how long he swam before he found the makeshift raft. He climbed onto it and hung on for dear life as he was tossed about helplessly by the storm.

"Man overboard!" someone shouted above him, bringing him out of his state of recollection.

Takato barely opened his eyes as he saw the blurry shape of a large ship sailing next to his raft. As the sails shifted they let the sun shine directly on him. He turned his head away from the harsh light, and noticed Henry struggling to hold onto the raft he was on. He had been so exhausted that he hadn't even noticed his friend grab onto the it.

He heard a splash above him and seconds later he felt someone wrapping a rope around his chest and under his armpits. He heard a voice shout something to the ship before he felt the rope begin to lift him out of the water. He shuddered as he felt the cold wind bite at his skin. He shook his head to try and wake himself up.

He opened his eyes again to see his own feet dangling above a wooden deck. He noted that his left foot was missing it's boot. He slowly descended and saw people approach where he would set down. His feet met the wood and he felt his legs shake as more of his weight was put on them. Barely standing on his own, he looked around at the sailors who had saved them as they proceeded to haul Henry up.

They were dressed in an assortment of clothing, but he did notice one common accessory. They all had swords hanging from their belts. He took a better look around the ship to see that it was a larger vessel than the Yuggoth had been. Most likely a frigate if he had to guess. He felt water drop onto his shoulder and looked up to see Henry dangling above him. Had he been in better condition and not so worried about his friend, he would have paid more notice to the flag flying at the top of the mast.

He stepped to the side and helped Henry balance his weight as he was set down onto the deck. The crewmembers surrounded them after helping their friend out of the water. Takato didn't like the way they were looking at them.

"So boys," started one scruffy looking sailor. "What brings you two young lads out into the middle of these 'ere seas."

Takato was about to answer when one of the crew shouted over him.

"Oy! These two are from Hypnos!"

The crew as well as the two young men looked to where the particular sailor was pointing to see the _Yuggoth's _flag floating in the water. Takato and Henry looked around at the crew as they all glared daggers at the two young men. Takato suddenly remembered glancing up at the ship's flag and looked back up to it. His gaze was met by a black flag with a white broken heart and cross-swords on it.

Takato gulped nervously right before the crewmembers grabbed them and roughly forced them onto their knees. The pirate that had first met them crouched right in his face and held the blade of a knife against his cheek.

"So, what business does Hypnos have in these waters?" he asked threateningly as he pressed the blade harder against the young man's cheek. Takato refused to give in though and only sent a glare at the brigand. He was about the spit in the man's face when a cold and harsh, yet attractive voice caught his attention, along with the crew's.

"What is the meaning of this?"

The knife wielding pirate pulled the knife back and stood up as he turned to face whoever spoke. His body still blocked the view of the speaker though as the pirate replied. When he spoke his voice shook with fear of incurring the wrath of whomever he was speaking to.

"Captain, we found these two in the water among some wreckage-"

"And who gave the order to bring them onto my ship?"

"Uh, I did captain but-" _**CRACK**_

Takato's eyes followed the pirate's body as it fell limp to deck. The body fell to the side and back, revealing a bleeding bullet hole right where his heart would be. he barely noticed as the crew let him go and stepped back in fear. He looked to Henry and saw the horrified look on his face. Henry was a pacifist, so Takato knew his reaction to seeing violence was bad, but he didn't know his first time seeing death would be this bad.

"Does anyone else think they can give orders on my ship," the cold voice questioned, sounding a lot closer than it had. With his view no longer obstructed, he finally saw the captain of the vessel, and was thoroughly shocked. He had never met her personally but he had heard enough stories to recognize her description. Not only that, but he had even _dreamt_ about her only a week and a half prior. She stood before him dressed in boots that had the toes' plated with steel, blue pants with two brown belts wrapped around her left thigh, a sword was attached to a brown belt that had a pistol tucked into it, she wore a long black coat over an olive green shirt with a grey skull on it. Her copper red hair was pulled up into a short spiky ponytail, with two thin strands hanging down to frame her pale but beautiful face. Her violate eyes looked down upon with a merciless cold glare.

Standing before him was his dream girl. The youngest and most feared pirate alive. The Pirate Empress and Queen of the Seven Seas. Rika Nonaka.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Well, this chapter ended up coming out sooner than I expected. Can't guarantee it will remain that way though. I ended up with a fair amount of free time for writing, and since I got a lot of good support from chapter one, I decided to go on and write chapter two. As always, feel free to leave a review telling me what you guys think, the support is greatly appreciated.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Pirate Empress**

* * *

Rika scowled at the two drenched men in front of her. For having survived the storm from the prior night, she wasn't very impressed with what she saw. Truth be told though, she's never been impressed by anyone. The one with the blue hair was looking at her in absolute fear, while the one wearing a pair of goggles on his forehead stared at her in fear and… awe?

The way he outright stared at the pirate captain intrigued her. Most people would shy away from her icy gaze, and some would even tremble. He, on the other hand, met her glare even with the fear she could detect in his eyes.

"These two were sailing under a Hypnos flag. What should we do with them captain?" One of her crew questioned. Rika shifted her glare to the crewman and received the anticipated of response of him gulping and begin to shake.

"_Hypnos huh. Those fools have always been an annoyance rather than a threat, but I already have enough annoyances to deal with." _She looked back at the two young men and made up her mind.

"Toss them back."

Immediately, the Gogglehead's red eyes widened and shifted to the crewmembers who rushed him and his friend. He tried to grapple one of the pirates and fight them off, but they easily overpowered him as Rika snorted at the young man's poorly thought out attempt at escape. The one with blue hair struggled vocally rather than physically.

"No! You don't have to do this. Let us go!"

"We'll let you go alright, right over the edge of the boat." One of her crew shouted in return. Rika turned to walk away and back into her quarters

**"Pyro Sphere!"**

Rika spun around in time to see a red ball of fire blast one of her crew over the edge of the ship. Following the path of the fireball, she traced it back to a red dino shaped head with red batwing ears and ferocious yellow eyes peering over the edge of the ship. The dino climbed onto the deck and swung his tail up, launching a white and green rabbit with huge ears into the air.

**"Terrier Tornado!"**

A green twister formed around the bunny-dog and launched at the pirates. The attack pushed the pirates away from the blue haired man as the rabbit landed on his shoulder. All but one of Rika's crew backed away from the four. The one remaining pirate foolishly decided to take on the dino and received a headbutt powerful enough to knock him through the deck's railing.

_"Impossible! They have _digimon_?"_ Rika yelled out of frustration in her mind, though her face remained stoic.

"Guilmon!" Takato exclaimed as he was reunited with his best friend.

"So, there are others who have digimon."

"Huh." Takato looked to Rika with one eyebrow raised as she scowled at them. What did she mean, _"others who have digimon?" _Before he could question her though, she cut him off with a commanding tone.

"_Renamon_."

Out of nowhere, a yellow and purple blur kicked Terriermon off of Henry's shoulder. The dog-bunny flew through the air and collided headfirst into a barrel, KOing him. The blur disappeared briefly before appearing in the air behind Guilmon.

**"Diamond Storm!"**

Hundreds of sparkling shards appeared in the air before shooting down at the crimson raptor. The dino slid across the wooden deck before colliding with the stairs. Both young men were slack jawed and wide eyed in shock. Takato's eyes shifted from Guilmon to Rika as the same blur appeared behind her right shoulder before clarifying into a yellow bipedal kitsune with piercing light blue eyes and purple gloves that had a yinyang symbol on them.

She was a digimon tamer like they were. Contrary to what most would believe neither of them was super shocked by this. Her having a digimon by her side would explain how she had quickly risen through the pirate ranks at such a young age. Their astonishment came from different reasons. Henry's shock came from how quick and brutal Rika had been in her decision to eliminate them. Takato's came from how quickly Guilmon had been defeated. He didn't have much in terms of battle experience outside a few low level digimon that had appeared on Shinjuku, but he had considered himself and Guilmon to be at least average in terms of strength.

"Hmph, is that all that your digimon have? I've fought monkeys that were tougher than them." Rika taunted, seeing what kind of a response she would get out of them. Henry was still stunned by Rika's brutality, while Takato looked a little hurt by her comment.

"Get rid of them," she ordered. The moment her crew moved in, something happened that Rika didn't expect.

Takato spun around and punched one of her crew right in the face before proceeding to steal his sword from its sheath. He then gripped the handle with both hands and charged strait for Rika. He didn't care if she was the same girl from his dream, if she was the most feared pirate, or if she had a digimon. He was going to keep his friends safe, no matter what!

At the same time, Guilmon appeared from her right and attempted to tackle Renamon. Renamon jumped out of the way and threw a kick at the red raptor. Much to everyone's surprise, Guilmon actually turned in time to catch Renamon's leg with his mouth. The saurian's jaws clamped down on her leg as he swung his head and threw her into a series of barrels. Temporarily stunned, Renamon failed to evade as Guilmon jumped on her and continued his attack. Renamon caught him by the jaw with both hands, keeping his sharp teeth inches away from her face.

Leaving Renamon to fight for herself, Rika watched the Gogglehead with skepticism as he charged. Not only was he gripping the sword wrong but he was planning to swing it like a long-sword rather than a cutlass. He swung the sword across from his left as hard as he could. Rika drew her sword while simultaneously deflecting the attack. To her surprise though, instead of trying to follow through with the swing, he angled the sword back so that it slid past her blade. He then lunged forward but Rika realized his plan the moment he angled his sword and quickly spun to deflect the blade away from her body. Takato's momentum kept him moving forward, allowing Rika to easily land a hard left hook on his cheek. Falling to the ground, the cutlass was kicked from his hand as a cold steel blade came to rest on his neck. Takato looked to the fight between their two digimon to see they were still locked in a stalemate.

"Hold him," Rika ordered before sheathing her sword as three men grabbed his arms and legs. Rika then took out a blue variant of the D-arc from the back of her belt, along with a strange looking card. Rika sighed before muttering to herself, "All this time and you still need me to bail you out of an easy fight."

She then slashed the card through a slot in the side of the D-arc.

**"Digi-modify! Power activate!"**

A pale white glow emitted from Renamon for a brief second before vanishing. With her strength increased, she was able to throw Guilmon to the side and slam his head into the deck of the ship. Taking advantage of his stunned state, Renamon lifted a barrel up and slammed it onto his head. The empty barrel hit Guilmon's head with a thud as star shaped bread danced across his vision.

"Now, throw them overboard."

Takato continued to struggle, as the pirates dragged them to the side of the ship. Guilmon and Terriermon were down, not that the latter would have been much help since Henry refused to let him fight (sometimes he wished that the blue haired man wasn't such a pacifist). It was then that an idea clicked in his head. In retrospect, he should have come up with and acted on this plan first.

"We have a map to Shibumi's treasure!"

The pirates continued to drag them to the side of the ship, so many had made that statement over the years that most now just dismissed the claims. Even Renamon gave a small humph at their desperation. After valiant effort to fight for their life, she didn't expect them to stoop that low. Rika, however, froze just as her hand was about to grab the doorknob.

"Belay that last order!"

The pirate stared at their captain in surprise as they held the four over the side of the ship. The slight widening of her eyes as she shifted her gaze toward the captain was the only indicator of Renamon's surprise at Rika's actions. Even Henry was surprised that it had worked. Rika turned around and walked until she stood in front of the two young men.

"Let me see it."

Henry dug around inside his vest before pulling out the leather pouch that contained the map. He was hesitant about handing it to Rika, thinking she might take the map and just throw them into the sea. Then he recalled one important detail. The riddle was written in Digicode. She _had _to keep them around.

"Be careful, it was already fragile enough without being soaked in saltwater for several hours."

Handing the map over to the pirate captain, Rika opened the pouch and pulled the map out. She carefully unfolded it before examining it with a sharp eye. Her eyes scanned the Digicode before locking on to the signature and symbol in the corner. Those two details confirmed this was indeed Shibumi's map. She knew because the same symbol marked the corner of the modify cards, like the one she had used only a few moments ago.

"It's the real thing," she spoke as she looked up to glare at the two young men. "But how does this help us when it's all written in Digicode?"

Henry's eyes widened at the revelation that she could recognize Digicode. He relaxed a bit when her question clicked in his head. She recognized it, but she couldn't read it. "It helps us because I'm one of the only people who can read it."

Rika's glare hardened at this complication. She knew he made special note of that so she wouldn't throw them overboard. She hadn't been planning on doing so anyway, she wasn't a completely dishonorable pirate, but she _hated_ when people were able to hold something over her.

"Hey toots, what's the big idea? Ya wake me up from my nap and then beat em up without me!" cried a voice from above.

Takato and Henry looked up to the source of the voice while Rika's head dropped down as she let out a growl from the back of her throat.

"_Impmon._"

Standing on the lowest yardarm of the main mast was a small purple imp-like creature with a yellow smiley face on his chest, a white face with green eyes, and was wearing red gloves with a red bandana wrapped around his head. His face was set in a scowl as he hung over the edge while holding onto a rope.

"No way, you have _two _digimon!" Takato exclaimed.

A tick mark appeared on Impmon's forehead as his scowl deepened and he shook his fist. "What d'ya mean two digimon? I don' need no tamer! Ya got that you goggle wearing freak!"

"Ignore him." Rika said before turning to her crew. "Set them down and get them situated below deck. But first, what does the Digicode say?"

All eyes turned to Henry, who kept a calm expression as he closed his eyes and recited the first half of the riddle.

"The first half says: _Sea of misery and woe, filled multiple and various a foe, Island's teeth will challenge your hull, when you see the floating skull_."

Rika's eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle quickly clicked together in her head. She knew the island that the riddle spoke of; she had been there before. She had been close to Shibumi's treasure and she didn't even know it. It would seem she wasn't the only one to piece it together as she heard Impmon give a surprised gasp.

"Huh!? You mean Shibumi's treasure was on Ship Eater Island this whole time!"

"You know where it is?" Takato asked excitedly.

"Yes," Rika replied, still maintaining a calm but cold tone in her voice. "It just so happens that I'm one of the few people who ever tried to navigate those waters. And, as far as I know, I'm the only one to do so successfully."

She turned to walk back towards her cabin before ordering, "Turn fourteen degrees north and unfurl the sails. Jim, you and Benson get these two and their digimon settled below deck. Impmon, get back in that crow's nest and keep an eye out for ships. I've had enough disturbances for one day."

* * *

As Rika disappeared into the confines of her quarters, the four men hauled Guilmon and Terriermon below deck and began to search for a place for them to settle in. They passed through the second layer of the ship and down to the third. Light passed through the grated covers to the cargo holes, but a few lanterns were still necessary to light up the ship's interior. Hammocks hung between multiple support beams and from the roof.

"So, how long have you been sailing on this ship?" Takato asked as he and Benson carried Guilmon. He figured that if they were going to be sailing on the same ship, they might at least try to be friends.

"I've only been on this ship a few weeks, but Jimmy's been 'ere since the captain got her 'bout a year ago."

"This is a new ship?" Henry questioned, suddenly become intrigued by the conversation. "What happened to the old one?"

"You mean you don't know?" The one called Jim asked in bewilderment. "It was only the most shocking event in modern history!"

"We come from an island called Shinjuku. Most information regarding pirates goes straight to Hypnos, they aren't very forthcoming as you can guess. The most we get is speculated rumors."

Accepting that as a valid reason, Jim continued his explanation, but with an air of hesitance and dread, as if the subject matter was taboo. "The captain's old ship, _The Empress,_ sunk."

"Yeah, destroyed in battle by a rival captain," Benson chipped in.

Takato nearly dropped Guilmon in shock. "You mean, Rika Nonaka, _lost _a battle?"

"Aye, to the guy now known as the King of the Seven Seas, Ry-" Benson was then halted by Jim's hand being slapped over his mouth.

"Oy! You know we're not allowed to speak you-know-who's name. If the captain heard you say it, she'd waste no time feedin you to the sharks."

Benson removed Jim's hand from his mouth to reply. "But the captain ain't here."

"Doesn't matter. Nothing gets by the captain, especially with that first mate digimon of hers."

Takato and Henry both shared a glance at each other. Henry was surprised by this new information. If the vibe he had gotten off of Rika was right, she wasn't the kind of person who took losing lightly. This in turn might explain why she had been more willing to accept that they had an actual map to Shibumi's treasure. If her reputation was hurt by a loss to this _King of the Seven Seas, _then retrieving Shibumi's treasure could easily make up for that.

Takato on the other hand wasn't entirely sure what he was feeling. Despite Rika being cruel and a pirate, he actually felt bad for hearing that she had lost in battle. For a teen who wanted to be a sailor, Rika Nonaka had been someone to look up to in a way. Not only had she become the captain of a ship at the age of fifteen, but within the year had successfully gained the position of the greatest pirate captain to date, some had even speculated she could be greater than the great Shibumi. She was strong, assertive, fearless, and everything he wished he could be. So to hear that his icon had been kicked from her throne was a strike to the gut.

He was brought out of his thoughts though by Guilmon stirring from his nap. He and Benson set him down and all four of them surrounded the dino to see how he would react. The raptor's yellow eyes blinked a few times before fully opening and looking around at his surroundings. He looked too Takato with a look of complete innocence on his face.

"Takatomon I'm hungry. Is it time to eat yet?"

* * *

In the spacious room of her captain's quarters, Captain Rika Nonaka sat in a leather armchair as she stared out the wall of windows towards the fiery orange setting sun, a modify card being twirled between her fingers with expert skill. A large desk that stretch from one side of the room to the other sat before her, covered in maps, charts, and multiple wanted posters of various pirates. She slouched as her mind drifted amongst the topics of the two young men they had picked up and the map to Shibumi's treasure. For some reason though, her mind seemed to be pulled towards the crimson eyed, gogglehead.

Though she would never say so out loud, she was impressed by him. Rather than make the same mistake twice, he had actually managed to steal one of her crew's swords and challenged her head on by himself. Not only that but he actually used some ingenuity in his attack. An average swordsman might not have been able to counter the fake-out he used. The other thing she had noticed was the determination in his eyes and the hurt in them when he had failed in his attack.

She had a knack for reading people and he was an open book under a magnifying glass. He was the kind who wore his heart on his sleeve and put his friends before all else. She even had to admit that she saw the potential for a great swordsman in him. It also didn't hurt that he was kind of cute... Wait...Where did that come from?

Rika was brought out of her thoughts as she sensed Renamon enter the room. After nine years, she was the only human who could detect the kitsune's presence. She had Renamon spy on the two young men earlier as they settled in to see if there were any early signs that they would cause mischief.

"What did you learn about them?" She asked, not even bothering to turn in order to address her first mate.

"The blue-haired one's name is Henry Wong, and the other is Takato Matsuki. Henry's father is a successful scholar and doctor, while Henry is working on becoming a navigator. Takato comes from a family of bakers. Both of them come from Shinjuku."

_Shinjuku. _It had been years since Rika had heard the name of her old hometown, though that was because none but Renamon knew of the island as such. Her gut told her that those two coming from Shinjuku and having digimon was more than a coincidence. She didn't have enough pieces of the puzzle to figure out what it truly meant though. So for now, she would have to wait until more clues revealed themselves.

"When did they get their digimon?" Rika continued to question, still keeping her disinterested tone. Though the revelation that they shared the same hometown did cause her to become more interested in the two young men.

"It would seem Henry found Terriermon only a short time after we met. Takato didn't get Guilmon until a year later, but get this, Takato claims that he _created_ Guilmon."

"Is that possible?" Rika asked, letting a little concern through her voice.

"I don't know. There are things about ourselves and the digital world that even we digimon don't know."

_The Digital World_. Renamon had told Rika about the mystical land she had came from. Though in passing into the human realm, her memories had been partially wiped so all she could recall was constantly fighting to get stronger.

"So what are their digimon like?" Rika asked as she regained her composure.

"Terriermon likes to throw irritating comments around. He isn't confrontational like Impmon is, but he is quite the smart-aleck. Guilmon is an _interesting_ case. Despite his power and aggressive fighting style; he seems to be best compared to a child. Outside of a fight, he's friendly and innocent. It seems the only downfall he has is his constant obsession with food. After waking he tried to consume half if not all of our food store. They managed to stop him, but I would keep an eye on him when food is around."

"What's your impression of Henry?"

"He's a pacifist, so I would never rely on him in a fight as long as he keeps that ideology. Otherwise, he's a very intelligent young man. I could see him becoming a brilliant strategist and navigator."

"Very well, keep an eye on them for now."

"Aren't you going to ask me about Takato?" Renamon questioned as she raised an eyebrow. Rika liked to be informed about everything and everyone on her ship. So for her to pass up information was an almost unseen thing.

"I don't need to. I already know what I need to know about him. He's open about his feelings and protective of his friends. He has potential as a fighter, but he's too aggressive and straightforward with his fighting. He's got guts, I'll give him that, but he charges headfirst without thinking. Admirable… but naïve."

"And he seems to have a great deal of respect for you."

"Hmm," Rika hummed in response, wondering what the bipedal fox meant.

"I saw the look in his eyes when you stood before him. It was like he was staring at his childhood hero. When speaking to the crew about your battle with _him, _he seemed genuinely hurt to hear of your loss."

Dismissing the fact that _that _topic had been discussed, Rika was genuinely surprised by this information. Most were surprised by the outcome of that battle, but she had yet to meet someone who had actually been concerned about her losing a battle. She hadn't known the Gogglehead for more than several hours, and he had already bewildered her more than anyone had in her life. The most frustrating part about it was that she couldn't decide how she felt about him. She had a lot of thinking to do tonight.

* * *

Takato lay in his hammock as it swung from side to side, staring up at the wood plank ceiling above him. Guilmon's light snoring rumbling up from his spot on the floor beneath him. It was mostly drowned out though by the snoring of several other pirates. He couldn't sleep due to his mind still trying to comprehend all that had occurred today.

Their ship had been wrecked in a storm. They didn't know if anyone else had survived. Now they were little more than prisoners aboard the ship of the most feared pirate alive.

He was both elated and concerned at the same time. Rika was keeping them alive for now, but would she continue to do so once they found the treasure. He had heard stories about pirates being dishonorable backstabbers who couldn't be trusted. He hadn't heard of Captain Nonaka doing anything as such, but that didn't mean she hadn't or wouldn't. This pained him as well because for some odd reason he felt the need to…help her. When he looked her in the eye earlier, he had seen something past all the anger. Deep inside there was pain and sorrow. Where it came from he didn't know, but it was there. He had never been one to stand by and ignore when he saw people suffering, he was compassionate to a fault that way.

The revelation of Rika's loss to this new _King of the Seven Seas_ had failed to shed much light on the situation though. He could tell that Rika's pride had taken a blow to the loss, but he could also tell that it wasn't the main cause for the pain he had glimpsed in her eye. That didn't mean the battle was an insignificant event though. For it was one that she clearly planned on getting retribution for. This much was obvious by the name of the ship they were currently sailing on. _The Ice Queen's Revenge._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Meet Gargomon**

* * *

Takato, Henry and their digimon had been sailing with Rika's crew for six days now. Rika hadn't emerged from her quarters since the first day they met. She kept tabs on the crew and issued orders via Renamon, who also brought the captain her meals. This only resulted in making Takato more curious about the notorious captain. They had arrived at a small desert island four days prior where they had changed course to head northeast.

Henry had been able to follow their movements precisely on his own map that he updated before they went to sleep each night. He didn't have the time to update it during the day due to his new job as the cook's assistant. Terriermon had caused some trouble the first day (all in good fun of course), he straightened out for the most part though when the cook threatened to chop off his ears and turn them into stew. Takato and Guilmon were sent up to the main deck where they helped the crew adjust the rigging to best use the wind.

The pirates had taken a liking to the two boys and their digimon. They often grew tired of Terriermon's puns, but usually when they were the subject of said pun. Guilmon had become a quick favorite due to his puppy-like nature, often receiving leftover scraps from their dinner. Henry's intellect and the advice he gave whenever he was above deck made him the go-to man of sorts. Takato was the one everyone seemed to enjoy being around. His eagerness and positive attitude always brightened their day, and his quick thinking on the off chance that things went awry raised the pirates respect for the young man.

It wasn't until day seven of their voyage that the intimidating redhead finally emerged.

It was a clear day with only a few white puffy clouds in the sky, yet a dreadful feeling hung in the air. The sea was fairly calm and the wind was weak, not requiring a lot of work from the crew. This was good, for it allowed the pirates to take a break from what they were doing and look to their destination.

Rising from the sea before them was a massive skull made of rock. The skull was tilted back with its eye sockets raised to the sky. Thick fog covered the lower half of the skull, but the tops of a few palm trees could be seen around where the base of the skull should be. The island's mouth was wide open and large rock spires rose out of the fog and into the air. While the back of the island was fairly safe to land on, none dared venture into the jaws on the other side. It didn't take long to figure out why it was called Ship Eater Island.

Takato stared at the island as he leaned over the railing on the port side. Most of the crew had moved to the bow of the ship to sightsee. Henry and Terriermon had even come up on deck to observe their destination. Impmon was sitting on the railing of the aft deck.

As the ship glided across the water and towards the fog, Rika stepped out of her cabin. She saw her crew ogling the grim island and rolled her eyes at them. She walked up to the deck above her cabin and took hold of the wheel. With steeled determination in her violet eyes, she guided the frigate into the fog.

Feeling the ship turn ever so slightly to the right, Takato looked to the aft of the ship to see Rika at the wheel. Pulling himself away from the edge of the frigate, he wandered towards the helm. He saw her turn the wheel and looked back to see a rock spire appear out of the fog and drift past the ship's hull. He looked over the side and saw the top of a mast poking from the water's surface.

He continued up to the aft deck and risked standing next to Rika as she steered. He had been meaning to ask about the card she had used to increase Renamon's strength, but now he was hesitant as he stood near her. She was intimidating enough as she was, but he didn't want to risk ruining her concentration and crashing the ship. One of his fears would soon be put to the side as Rika suddenly shouted out.

"Drop the anchor!"

The crew quickly set to work as their captain stepped away from the wheel. Her icy gaze shifted to Takato who started shaking in nervousness. He could feel his palms start to sweat as his eyes shifted around to notice that no one else was near by.

She folded her arms over her chest before inquiring, "What do you want?"

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to ask you what that card you used on Renamon was."

He noticed one of her copper colored eyebrows rise slightly, "You mean a modify card?"

"Y-Yeah that. I've never seen one of those before."

"They're cards that can be used to give power upgrades to your digimon." She explained as she pulled out said card from a pouch on the back of her belt. "You slash them through the slot on the side of your D-Arc, to use it. This is the only card that I've been able to find though."

There was a moment of silence as neither of them could think of what else to say as Rika returned the card to it's pouch. She was mentally questioned why she had divulged that information to him. She then decided to end the silence once it started to get uncomfortable.

"Grab some shovels, we're going to need them to dig up the treasure."

"Oh that won't be necessary," Takato commented cheerfully, throwing Rika off slightly with his positive disposition. "Guilmon could probably dig up the whole island within the day if we need him too."

* * *

"Why do we have to row while you do nothing?" Terriermon questioned.

"_We_? What we? You're not doing anything either." Takato argued as he looked to the digimon sitting on Henry's head. He could feel the muscles in his arms staring to burn from rowing the oar in his hands. Henry sat next to him with an oar for the other side of the boat. Guilmon sat behind them, closer to the front of the dinghy, rowing a second set of oars. Rika and Renamon sat the back of the dinghy. The redhead had one hand on the rudder and a compass held in the other.

"I _am _doing something. It's called steering the boat." Rika stated as if it was obvious, which it was to be fair. "Or would you rather be blown to bits?"

"That's being a little drastic don't you think. I mean, these three don't have nearly enough strength to crash us into a pillar _that_ fast."

*sigh* "Renamon."

The stoic fox picked up a small crate from the floor of the dinghy and tossed it to the side. The wooden box splashed into the water and drifted for a few moments. Right before an underwater explosion blasted it into pieces and sent a shower of saltwater on our heads.

"Ah! Momentai," Terriermon said as he began to shiver from the cold water. "You could have just said so; I didn't need a live demonstration."

"Terriermon," Henry warned. They were rowing through mine infested waters, with the fog limiting their sight to a foot. The last thing he needed was the dog-bunny angering the person who held their lives in her hand.

There was a grinding sound as the rowboat slid onto the sandy shore of the island. Rika and Renamon both vaulted over their respective sides of the boat and into the shallow water. The others followed their example after pulling in the oars and setting them down in the dinghy. They pushed the rowboat further up onto the shore so that it wouldn't drift away.

"So, what's the rest of the riddle to find the treasure?" Rika questioned with her eyes locked on Henry.

"How did she know there was more?" Guilmon asked Takato innocently.

"Because a description of an island isn't enough, and I would withhold information as well if I were in your position." Rika answered the saurian before Takato could.

Henry just closed his eyes before calmly answering Rika, "Fifteen steps from first to last, From the rocks that have been cast, North then west then north again, Southeast then northeast, you shouldn't bend."

"Any idea what that means?" Takato questioned as he looked to Rika for an answer.

Rika just looked further down the shore before muttering to herself, "Rocks that have been cast…"

She started walking down the beach. The others just shared a glance at eachother before following. When they caught up to her she was standing next to two large boulders that were shaped like dice. Upon closer inspection, someone had even chiseled large circles where the dots should be.

Rika pulled out her compass and walked to the northern side of the boulders. Takato and Henry soon followed as she took fifteen evenly spaced steps north. She then turned to the west and did the same number and spacing of the steps. She followed this procedure through all the steps in the riddle before coming to a stop. The directions had led them into a large stone cave. She drew her sword and scratched an X into the sand before stepping to the side, silently indicating for them to start digging.

As Guilmon started digging into the sand, everyone else stood off to the side and waited. After the raptor had dug about three feet down, the others began to notice that the fog around them was turning a weird shade of purple. Rika's hand drifted towards her sword as her eyes shifted around the fog.

_"A digital field, but there isn't a sign of any digimon?"_

**_Thunk_**

All eyes turned to Guilmon as his claws struck something solid. Rika instantly knew from the sound that it was made from wood, since rock would have made a sharper noise. The red dino quickly dug up the rest of the sand around the chest.

The chest didn't look that out of the ordinary. It was a plain wooden chest with an iron lock and hinges. Guilmon brought his claws down on the lock and busted it clean off. Rika took the lead and kicked the lid open. The hinges squeaked as the top flew back to reveal a couple hundred gold pieces covered by a layer of ten modify cards and another cloth map.

Before they could examine the cards and map though, their attention was caught by Guilmon sniffing the air. At the same time all three of their D-Arcs starting beeping like crazy. Takato looked back to Guilmon to see that his eyes had dilated. They all knew the indicators, a digimon was coming.

"GOORAGH!"

They all turned to see a large white and grey gorilla with a metal cannon-shaped arm howling in rage at them. He pointed his metal arm at them and fired a blast of energy at them. They all jumped out of the way as the beam nearly missed the chest. The shockwave from the blast was still enough to knock the modify cards into the air though.

All three of the Tamers' digimon stepped in front of their respective partners in order to protect them. Henry was the first to pull out his D-arc and get a scan of the hostile digimon.

"Gorillamon; Beast digimon; champion level."

Guilmon charged in first but Gorillamon batted him away with a powerful backhand blow. Terriermon tried to charge in but Henry tackled him to the ground. Rika and Renamon silently backed away to watch from the sidelines.

"Rika, why are we backing away? Shouldn't we be helping them?"

"If it gets desperate we will. For now, I want to see just how well these four can handle themselves."

"Henry! Let me go!" Terriermon screamed.

"No! I won't let you fight."

"If I don't then we're all dead!"

Gorillamon turned his attention to Henry and leveled his arm cannon with his head. Just as the ape fired the energy beam, Takato tackled Henry and Terriermon out of the way. With his tamer's grip loosened, Terriermon slipped out of Henry's arms and fired a bunny blast at Gorillamon. The blast didn't even scratch him though as he aimed once more at Henry and Terriermon.

"Here, take this!"

Henry turned to see Rika throw him one of the modify cards that had flown out of the chest. He caught it in his hand and looked at the name along the top of the card.

_"Training Grips? How does that help me? Unless…"_

An idea on how to use this to his advantage popped into his head as he read through the details written on the card. He got up, quickly pulled out his digivice, and slashed the card through the slot.

**"Digimodify! Training Grips activate!"**

The training grips materialized around Terriermon's ears. The small dog-bunny was confused how this helped at first, but then felt the grips loosen a bit. Quickly catching onto the idea, he swung his ears around before launching the training grips at Gorillamon. The grips attatched themselves to the ape and he quickly got tangled up in them. This allowed Guilmon to get up and whack him over the head with his paw.

**"Terrier-Tornado!"**

The green twister sent Gorillamon high into the air before he came crashing back down into the sand.

"Well, what goes up must come down." Terriermon piped up.

Guilmon hummed in agreement. Gorillamon wasn't out for the count though as he managed to get himself back on his feet. With a growl of rage, the ape broke free of the training grips, which de-materialized into the air. "I don't think he liked the ride."

**"Bunny Blast!"**

Gorillamon leapt into the air and avoided the green energy blasts from Terriermon, right before firing at the small digimon. With no time to get away, Terriermon was forced to take the hit straight on.

"Terriermon, NOOO!" Henry shouted as he watched the blast engulf his best friend and partner. His D-Arc began to glow, and though it was impossible to see from the explosion, so did Terriermon. A weird unearthly female voice then spoke from the D-Arc.

**Digivolution Activate**

"Terriermon digivolve too…" Terriermon spoke as he was engulfed into a green egg. The egg burst apart and from it appeared an even larger version of Terriermon. Now he stood as tall as Henry, with red warpaint, wearing a pair of blue pants and slung a belt full of weird bullets over his shoulder. The ends of his arms had changed into these weird, almost miniature cannon like things. "Gargomon!"

Everyone, even Gorillamon, was shocked at this transformation. Most would think that Henry would be the most surprised out of them, but in reality, it was Rika. Ever since Renamon had mentioned digivolving to the redhead, she had made it her mission to get Renamon to digivolve. And now the pipsqueak digimon who belonged to a pacifist had managed to accomplish that goal before she could.

** "Gargo Laser!"**

Immediately Gargomon starts firing off his dual gatling guns at Gorillamon. Overcome by the onslaught of lasers, the gorilla glows red before bursting into a storm of red particles which fly off with the wind. Gargomon doesn't stop firing though and starts shooting randomly while giggling like a five year old with a new toy.

_"Okay, now this is getting out of hand."_ Rika thought as one of the laser pellets crashed into the ground in front of her feet, causing her to jump back. "Renamon, get him under control."

Renamon leapt into action, using her agility to dodge the random barrage of bullets. She ran along the wall of the cave until she was in Gargomon's blind-spot. She then leapt off the wall and onto the large rabbit-dog's back. The fox wrapped her arms around his head, causing him to start blind firing.

Gargomon threw an arm up and hit Renamon in the head with one of his gatling arms. Temporarily dazed, the vixen dug her claws into his face and dragged them across his eyes as she was thrown off. Still regaining her senses, Renamon deftly landed on her feet before receiving a backhand blow from Gargomon, sending her crashing into the wall of the cave.

Noticing the battle getting closer to her, Rika backed up until she felt the cold wall of the cave tough her back. After taking out Renamon for the moment, Gargomon turned to Rika with his guns still firing. The laser pellets shot holes into the wall of the cave around her before stopping. Rika had thrown up her arms to shield her eyes. Upon lowering them, her eyes saw a scary sight. One of Gargomon's gatling arms leveled with her head. She noticed her own breathing quicken and could feel some sweat starting to form on her forehead.

"Guilmon!" she heard Takato call from her right. She didn't blink as she saw the red dinosaur headbutt the champion level into the wall. They both crashed into the stone and made a crater in the wall. When the dust settled, the three tamers could see Guilmon standing next to a KO'd Gargomon. Takato turned to look at Rika and could still see a twinge of fear in her eyes. As he turned to look back at Gargomon, one thought ran simultaneously through both his and her minds'.

_"Are all digimon like this when they digivolve?"_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Frozen Heart**

* * *

Takato, Henry, and Guilmon rowed as Rika guided them through the fog. The unconscious body of Gargomon was taking up a lot of space in the middle of the dinghy, forcing the two young men to lean to their respective sides. The chest of loot lay guarded in front of Renamon. The modify cards had been gathered up and were currently residing in Rika's card pouch. The silence was thicker than the fog in the air as they made their way back to the ship.

Rika looked up as they approached the spot she estimated the ship to be. The silhouette of the ship began to emerge from the fog. She told them to stop rowing and just let the boat drift to the ship's side. While she didn't show it, her mind was in a state of confusion over the actions on the beach.

_Why did he save her?_

She was practically holding the four of them hostage. He would have benefitted from just letting Gargomon shoot her. The crew liked them enough that they probably wouldn't turn against them, so why did he order Guilmon to intervene. She was going to have to question him about this later. She knew her conscience wouldn't leave her alone until she did.

She climbed up the side of the ship followed closely by Takato. Once she climbed over the top, Renamon phased in beside her. The crew was gathering around to haul up Guilmon, Gargomon, and Henry in the rowboat. She stepped towards the center of the ship as the pirates ogled the chest of gold. Renamon stepped in and took the chest and phased away to store it in Rika's cabin. Rika walked up to the ship's wheel and gave the order to raise the anchor and get under way.

Once they got out of the fog, she handed the wheel off to the helmsman and gave orders for which direction to go. She then walked down to her cabin while telling Renamon to fetch Henry and Gogglehead. Minutes later, the two entered the captain's quarters to find Rika leaning against her desk while staring out the window at the ocean. She turned her head to acknowledge their arrival before walking around to the front of her desk while reaching into her card pouch on the back of her belt. She drew several cards and handed them to the two young men. They were surprised that she was giving them modify cards but still took them, albeit hesitantly.

"Why are you giving these to us?" Henry asked as he looked through the cards.

"Whether we like it or not, we're stuck in this together," she replied coldly. "I can't babysit you two and your digimon all the time, so you'll need to be able to defend yourselves. You guys aren't any use to me if you die." She then directed her glare towards Henry, "So first things first. How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"How did you get the smart mouth to digivolve? Digimon can only accomplish that by fighting and growing stronger. You, however, try to keep him out of any fight that you can. So how did you do it?"

Henry took a moment to raise his hand to his chin and put his thoughts together. He had been thinking about it ever since the end of the battle. He only managed to get to one possible conclusion though.

"Because I didn't want him to die."

"Uhm, could you be a little more specific," Takato questioned, also wanting to learn how his friend had accomplished such a feat.

Henry took out his D-Arc and stared at it. "I think there must be some kind of connection between us and our digimon. This connection must be able to allow the digimon to access the power to grow stronger and digivolve. When I saw Terriermon in the midst of that attack, I must have sparked that connection and it allowed him to digivolve."

There were a few moments of silent before Rika spoke up, "You're saying that your care for the rabbit caused him to digivolve?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Pathetic."

"What?" Takato questioned. "It doesn't sound that illogical to me?"

Rika snarled as she pondered arguing further with the two young men, but knew it to be futile. She could tell that both of them would be very stubborn on this matter. Henry considered this to be a logical conclusion, and Takato wore his heart on his sleeve. Plus they both had ignorance on their side. They both had probably grown up in loving families with plenty of friends surrounding them. They didn't know the truth about feelings, because they didn't have the experience that she had in such matters.

_'Growing close to our digimon. A connection? Ridiculous. Feelings only bring about pain and suffering.'_

Seeing it as a pointless endeavor to push this matter further, Rika decided that a change in subject was in order. "Forget it. This philosophical debate will get us nowhere. What does the next clue say?"

Henry stuffed the modify cards into one pocket while pulling the cloth map out of his other pocket. As he did so, he and Takato noticed the way that Rika purposefully avoided discussing this matter but went along with it all the same. Both of them got the feeling Rika could turn very dangerous if pushed into a corner.

Henry unfolded it to reveal a detailed map of an island with nautical coordinates written next to it. In the bottom corner was the symbol of Shibumi and above it was two simple lines of digicode.

"_Where the Ice Demon plays,_

_The next clue stays."_

"That's it?" Takato asked, surprised by the simplicity of the clue.

"Well, Shibumi was a bit of an oddball," Henry speculated as he handed the map back to Rika. "Brilliant, but never really followed a singular path of logic."

"I'll get the course charted, but we'll need to make a short detour to restock our supplies." With that Rika turned back to her desk and laid the map down. Taking this as their que to leave, Takato and Henry turned to the door and started to exit.

"Not you Gogglehead," Rika spoke without turning around, surprising the two young men. "There's something I need to discuss with you."

Giving his friend a worried glance, he left the cabin and closed the door behind him. Takato gulped as he turned back to face the pirate captain. Rika turned back towards the crimson eyed man and folded her arms as she leaned against the desk and gave him a hard look.

"Why did you do it?"

"Huh? Do what?" he asked, desperately searching through his memory for anything he had done wrong.

Rika sighed in aggravation and rolled her eyes.

"Why did you save me? You could have just let Gargomon put a bullet in my head, then you and your friends would be free to search for the treasure on your own. So I want to know, why?"

Takato just stood there looking dumbstruck. He raised his hand to scratch the back of his head while his eyes turned to the wall to his left.

"Well, you haven't treated us _that_ bad. You haven't really given me a reason to dislike you, and i-it's just not who I am to stand by and watch someone die."

Rika raised an eyebrow as he got flustered. He was speaking the truth, but she could tell there was something more to this. He was just too embarrassed to speak it. Of course, that line of thought quickly led her mind to one possible conclusion that made her cheeks redden a little as well.

Turning away to protect her image, she decided that that was all the explanation she was going to get out of him. If his reasoning was what she theorized it was, pushing too hard would only prevent him from revealing it. She wasn't about to toss this side and forget about it though. She just had to find the right time to confront him about it.

"I guess you're a fool then. That's all I needed from you, get back to work," she said, not wanting to give away she might be onto him. If she had been in his position, she would have just left him… or would she?

Given his dismissal, Takato turned and left her quarters. He walked across the deck as the crew manned the ship. He noticed Henry, Guilmon, and a few other pirates trying to carry Gargomon below deck. He jogged over and proceeded to help them in their endeavor. He didn't know how digivolution worked, but he hoped the rabbit-dog would turn back into his smaller form soon. They were going to have a hard time finding a place to keep him otherwise.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since their encounter with Gorillamon on Ship Eater Island. They stopped by a safe haven for pirates a little over a week ago to restock their supplies. They were now far enough north that the air had turned cold and a light shower of snowflakes was floating down from the clouds every couple of days. Takato and the digimon remained awed by the snow, while Henry noted that the light flurries grew stronger and more frequent as they traveled.

In a matter of days it got cold enough that small ice floes could be seen floating in the saltwater. As the floes got bigger the crew had to keep aware to prevent one of them from cracking the hull of the ship. Rika even left her cabin one day to see how well they were making process.

Ever since the Gargomon incident, Takato constantly found his gaze being drawn towards the captain's quarters. As time went on, Takato began to realize that he was developing a crush on the Ice Queen. He intended to keep this a secret, but the glances and knowing smiles he got from his friends amongst the crew told him he wasn't doing a good job of doing so. Further evidence of this was that the crew had taken to singing shanties to help distract them from the cold, their favorite of which Takato couldn't help but notice applied extremely well to his current position.

The next day they could see the island on the horizon. The main attraction being a large ice capped mountain that rose from the center of the land to a thousand feet in the air. As they drew closer to the island, Rika could spot a small village by the edge of the icy land. The village even had a small dock for their ship. This made her uneasy considering she couldn't see any signs that they had a vessel the same size as the_ Ice Queen's Revenge_, and this island had long been considered barren of anything that could warrant visiting it.

Lowering her spyglass, Rika turned to Renamon, "Tell the crew to keep their wits about them. Something doesn't feel right about this."

"As you wish Rika." Renamon said before walking away to relay orders to the pirates. Rika was about to raise here spyglass to take another look, when she felt a chill rush up her spine and cause the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She was being watched. Spinning around she looked across the deck as she kept her hand on the hilt of her sword. She expected to find something about to attack her, but found nothing. She noticed some of the crew giving her odd looks at her actions, and quickly corrected herself to appear normal. She returned to her cabin, but even there she still felt a chill on the back of her neck.

* * *

They set anchor at the island and departed the ship via the gangplank. Rika left one of her most trusted crewmembers in charge of the ship while she, Takato, Henry, and their digimon investigated the village. The three tamers received a surprisingly warm greeting. The villagers wore insulated seal skin coats to keep them warm and appeared to be armed with fishing spears at most. They told the visitors that they established this village several years ago and survived off of the seal population that lived around the island.

Rika told Henry and Takato to keep information about Shibumi's treasure between the three of them for now. The two men couldn't understand why they couldn't just ask for information about the clue. The village seemed peaceful enough. Rika, however, was growing more and more paranoid by the minute. No matter what, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed. She found herself constantly glancing over her shoulder and darting down side-streets, much to Renamon's confusion. Rika suspected the bipedal vixen might think she was starting to go crazy.

Night had fallen by the time they returned to the ship. Rika was walking back across the dimly lit deck to her cabin when she felt that familiar chill up her spine. On the very edge of her peripheral vision she saw a large white, clawed hand reaching out to grab her. When she spun around though, nothing was there. She knew what she saw though and quickly darted into her quarters.

"Renamon!" she called out, a hint of panic cracking her voice.

The yellow fox phased into existence in a crouched position next to her captain. She had detected the panic in Rika's voice, but she knew better than to bring it up.

"What is it Rika?"

"Look outside and tell me what's there." Rika ordered.

Renamon did as she was told and opened the door to look outside. The deck of the ship was completely abandoned. Not detecting anything outside, Renamon pulled her head inside and closed the door.

"There is nothing out there Rika."

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Rika shouted as her paranoia reached its peak. "Something has been following me all day!" Then her crazed mind came to a startling conclusion. "You're working with it aren't you? You're jealous aren't you? You saw that Henry managed to get that rabbit to digivolve, and now you think that you need a new partner don't you. You're planning a mutiny against me."

"Rika I would never-"

"Get out!" Rika shouted as she drew her pistol and aimed it at the yellow bipedal fox. Startled by Rika's behavior, Renamon decided to give her some space to clear her mind. As soon as the vulpine had phased away, Rika darted out of her quarters and down the gangplank.

'_I don't need her! I don't need anybody! I never have and I never will!'_

She ran though the sleeping village, not knowing where she planned to go; only that she had to get away from that mutinous fox. She found herself in the center of the village square when she felt a small prick in the back of her neck. Her vision became fuzzy as she reached up and pulled a small strangely shaped dart out of her neck. She saw dark shadows approaching as her legs fell out from beneath her. She saw a pair of sealskin shoes stop in front of her as darkness overtook her vision.

* * *

Takato was sleeping in his hammock when he was awoken by his D-Arc chirping. He pulled the device out and activated it as a magic compass hovered over the front of the device. He looked to his right and saw Henry staring at his D-Arc as well. They both knew from previous occurrences what this meant. "Digimon."

They both woke up their partners and ran up to the top deck. Takato had expected to see Rika ready to go hunting as well, but the only ones up there were the sentries Rika had posted earlier that day. He ran to the side of the ship and expected to see Rika and Renamon running down the dock, but it was deserted.

"Hey, do either of you two know where the captain is?" Takato questioned one of the guards. He was about to answer but was cut off by a high, scratchy voice from above.

"What do ya want with ol pineapple head?" They looked up to see Impmon standing on the rigging above them. "She ran off a couple of hours ago."

"Was Renamon with her?"

"Not that I could tell."

"That doesn't sound right," Henry said. "She couldn't have known about the emergence ahead of time, and she was skeptical of this island. Why would she just run off?"

"Because something isn't right," Renamon said as she phased in behind them. "She's been feeling paranoid ever since we came to this island. She even accused me of wanting to attempt a mutiny against her. I backed away to give her space to clear her head, but maybe that was a mistake. She should have been back by now."

"Well then what happened to her," Takato worried.

"I was skeptical of Rika's paranoia at first, but I decided to investigate the village further and found this…" Renamon held out her paw and revealed a statue made of stone. The figure was humanoid with long and skinny limbs, a pair of tattered wings, and two horns coming out of his head. "This is our Ice Demon that the map spoke of."

Everyone's attention was on the statue; even Impmon's curiosity was intrigued by the figurine.

"What is it?" Henry inquired.

"A Devimon, or more specifically, an IceDevimon I suspect. A vile digimon of darkness. It would seem that these people think of him as some kind of god."

The wheels in Henry's head were turning, but much to his surprise it was Takato who pieced it together first.

"They're going to use her as a sacrifice!" Takato exclaimed. "That's why Rika felt paranoid and that's why she hasn't come back. The IceDevimon must want her for some reason, and they nabbed her when she ran into the village."

Renamon's eyes widened with alarm, "We must hurry if we're to reach her in time."

"Wait," Henry called out before Renamon could dart away. "We can't run in there on our own. This IceDevimon will undoubtedly be strong, and I doubt the villagers will just stand by as we attack him."

Takato looked around and noticed one of the cannons along the side of the ship. After checking to see if it was loaded, he grabbed some flint and lit the fuse. The loud blast broke through the silent air, and within seconds the previously sleeping crew were scattering above deck to see what the commotion was about. They looked around in confusion until Takato leapt onto the on the railing of the ship.

"Alright boys, Captain Rika has been kidnapped by the natives of this island. It's up to us to rescue her, now who's with me!?"

Takato had been expecting a round of cheers. What he got was confused silence. The pirates were muttering amongst themselves, weighing their options. Some proposed that they could get away and continue their lives. Others were hesitant to abandon their captain due to fear of her. The first group would then counter that Rika's terrifying demeanor was all the more reason to leave her. It was at this point that Takato had had enough.

"ENOUGH!" he shouted, drawing the surprised expression of everyone on the ship. Takato's voice softened as he went on. "I know that I'm asking a lot. Even if I have to go it alone, I'm going up that mountain and saving Rika, but… it would be a lot easier if I had some help. So please…"

Henry gave his friend a proud smile as he looked at the people around him. He looked to Renamon and saw her looking at Takato with some respect. The crew spoke amongst themselves for a bit before looking back to Takato with cheeky smiles on their faces.

"Alright Takato, we'll help you save your girlfriend." The moment he said that, Takato's face turned as red as a tomato.

"She is not my girlfriend!"

* * *

Rika's head felt like it was swaying as her vision came into focus. She lifted her head from the stone table and looked around her. It was too dark for her to make out the environment. All she knew was that she was freezing cold.

She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as she got off the stone surface. Her feet touched the ground and almost slipped out from under her on the ice. She corrected herself and exhaled a shaky breath as she tried to piece together where she was. The last thing she remembered was running through the village before feeling a prick on the back of her neck, and then everything went dark.

"Welcome to my humble abode," spoke a somewhat raspy voice with the slightest hint of an echo.

Rika spun around to face the owner of the voice and saw a tall white humanoid figure with abnormally long limbs and tattered wings. He wore black and grey belts on various parts of his body with a strange purple symbol that looked like wings on his chest. His eyes glowed scarlet red as he stared at her.

"You're a Digimon, aren't you."

"The simple minded locals consider me to be a god, but there's no distorting the truth from you."

"So you're the one who's been following me around. What do you want from me?"

"I simply wanted to show you my home. It is suiting for you after all." The ice demon explained.

"Suiting? For me?" Rika asked in bewilderment.

"You're cold as ice personality. You have no time for the weak, and you demand the best from everyone. If they falter or are too frail then you simple toss them out of the way. Which is why were destined to be partners."

"Partners? Us!?"

"Allow me to prove my point." With that Icedevimon spread out his wings and arms. As he did so, the entire room lit up to reveal multiple digimon encased in ice. "I have defeated every single one of these digimon. My mission is to become the strongest there ever was, just like you. In order to accomplish that, we need each other."

Rika stared around in horror at the ice walls of the room. All of the digimon had been frozen with looks of terror and pain on their faces. Some of them were still in their infant stages. All this time she had thought that she would do whatever it took to become the best. It was at that moment that she realized her own thoughts to be false. She had fought and even killed to become the best, but she would never resort to this. She never attacked the innocent or defenseless, and she most certainly would **never** put their bodies on display like a trophy.

"You know nothing about me. I would never team up with a monster like you."

"Ah, that's what I like about you. You're frozen heart and steeled determination. But tell me, why would you settle for second best? With me you wouldn't need Renamon, or those other Tamers. You wouldn't even need your crew. The locals would work for us willingly, and leave all of Shibumi's treasure to us."

Rika's eyes widened at this. "How do you know of Shibumi's treasure?"

Icedevimon stepped aside to reveal a wooden chest encased in ice. "This chest has been here since before I deleted my predecessor from existence as ruler of this island. However, it requires a Tamer in order to open it. So what do you say? Fifty-fifty, partner?"

At that moment the ice cavern shook as an explosion punched a hole in the wall. Rika threw her arms up to protect herself as pieces of ice flew across the room. Icedevimon held up a wing to deflect the frozen shards. The smoke cleared as Takato, Guilmon, Renamon, Henry, and Terriermon entered the room.

"Let her go you frozen freak!" Takato shouted and the demon digimon.

Henry's digivice chirped and he pulled it out to read the display. "Renamon was right; it's Icedevimon, a champion fallen angel digimon."

"Do you mind, me and my new Tamer were just sorting out the details of our partnership."

"Rika already has Renamon icehead." Takato defended.

"We need a strategy," Henry advised, "He's stronger than any digimon we've faced so far."

"I've already got a strategy, ATTACK!" Terriermon shouted as he jumped onto Guilmon's back. They both charged at Icedevimon, but he shot blue beams from his eyes and froze both digimon in blocks of ice.

"Guilmon!"

"Terriermon!"

As both Tamers rushed to their digimon, Icedevimon let out an evil laugh of victory. "I hear that one becomes quite warm just before they freeze."

"You're so twisted it's sick." Henry remarked as Takato chipped away at the ice with a sword. Just then Renamon leaped in front of Icedevimon and gave him a swift kick to the face. She landed deftly on the icy floor, ready to launch her next attack. The ice demon quickly recovered and faced the yellow vulpine with a smirk on his face.

"Ah, the infamous Renamon. I guess you'll be the first one to be destroyed."

"No," Rika muttered under her breath as she watched Renamon leap into the air.

**"Diamond-"**

**"Frozen Claw!"**

Icedevimon quickly interrupted the attack and threw Renamon to the ground. Renamon quickly recovered, but wasn't fast enough to counter her opponents next flurry of attacks. Icedevimon landed in front of the kitsune as she fell onto her side, weakened from the hits she had taken.

"Rika she has to digivolve now," Takato shouted.

_'I can't let her digivolve. What if she becomes like Icedevimon, or Gargomon,' _Rika thought as she looked with sorrow at the digimon that had faithfully followed her for nearly ten years. She closed her eyes and turned away.

"Why are you acting like that? Digimon that are weak have no place amongst the living. So tell me, what makes her worth your time?"

"Because she's my friend." She whispered before opening her eyes to glare at Icedevimon just as her D-arc began to glow. "I care because Renamon is my friend."

**DIGIVOLUTION**

**"Renamon Digivolve to-"**

Pale blue light encased Renamon before out stepped a large fox with nine tails and wore some kind of red and white ribbon with bells around her neck. The white fur on her four paws and on the tips of her tail had the appearance of fire.

**"-Kyubimon!"**

Rika looked on with surprise and a small amount of fear as Renamon Digivolved.

"Why did she digivolve?" she asked herself, then remembered Henry's explanation earlier. Perhaps there really was a connection to their feelings.

**"Foxtail Inferno."**

The tips of Kyubimon's nine tails glowed with blue fire as nine tongues of fire surrounded Icedevimon. He leaped out of the way just before they converged to create a blue explosion where he had been standing.

"Where are you going frosty?" Kyubimon asked as she gave chase.

**"Dragon Wheel!"**

Kyubimon flipped in the air and shot a dragon made of blue fire at the demon digimon.

**"Tundra Freeze!"** Icedevimon shouted, freezing the attack and causing it to shatter.

**"Avalanche Claw!"** he shouted as a flurry of ice spike shot and narrowly missed Kyubimon.

"We have to do something!" Takato shouted as he desperately chipped away at the ice.

"Wait, I have an idea." Henry told his friend as he pulled out one of the modify cards Rika had given them.

**"Digi-modify! Expansion activate!"**

Immediately Terriermon started to swell up like a balloon and his skin turned the color of the night sky with stars. He broke the ice apart, causing both of them to fall to the ground. Guilmon sat up and looked around with a confused look on his face for a few seconds as Terriermon deflated.

"Alright you guys now it's our turn!" Takato shouted as Kyubimon shot a weak Foxtail Inferno at Icedevimon. The demon just tilted his head as the fireball flew past and collided with the ceiling.

"Are you ready Guilmon?" The red dino nodded his head and hummed in agreement. "Okay then let's get him."

"Okey-dokey."

**"Digi-modify! Speed Activate!"**

"Back for more already," Icedevimon taunted. His expression fell however when Guilmon launched a Pyro Sphere at him. He let out a gasp of fear from the power of the attack as he dodged it.

**"Frozen Claw!"** he shouted as he launched one of his arms at the raptor. To his surprise though, Guilmon caught the attack and was fighting against it.

**"Digi-modify! Hyper Wing Activate!"**

Henry cheered his friends on, while Rika looked up with a gasp of surprise over the combo-modification Takato had pulled off. Six glowing white wings sprouted from Guilmon's back. He threw Icedevimon's arm to the side and tackled the demon into the ceiling, effectively lodging his head into the ice.

**"Pyro Sphere!"**

The crimson fireball impacted with Icedevimon and blasted him to bits with a final yell of terror. Guilmon absorbed Icedevimon's data and landed onto ground. Rika looked on in awe over the rookie level digimon taking out the champion level monster.

"Rika, are you alright?" Takato asked as he ran up to her. He slipped on the ice however and fell on his back. He slid past Rika and into a wall. Rika felt the corner of her mouth tug into a small smile but resisted. She did mutter a lighthearted "gogglehead" over his misfortune though.

The rest of them gathered around her and inquired about her wellbeing. She reassured them that she was fine, while keeping her cold persona of course. They stepped outside the cave to find the entire crew waiting for them. Rika was taken aback from surprise that so many of her crew had come to rescue her. She knew Takato's nature wouldn't allow him to abandon her, Henry would have followed his friend, but she hadn't expected this from the pirates.

"What is the meaning of this?" she inquired.

"Takato has a knack for inspiring others." Kyubimon replied from beside her.

"Yeah," Terriermon continued, "He got everyone to come along to help rescue you from the natives."

That last statement got Rika's mind working. _'Wait a second. "Everyone?"'_ She looked around and indeed she spied every one of her crew members standing before her.

Takato looked at Rika expecting to get a reaction from her. He was expecting surprise at the very least. What he got was her glaring daggers into his head.

_'But they all came to rescue her. What was wrong about that?'_

"Gogglehead," Rika seethed through her teeth. "If everyone is here, then who is _guarding the ship_?"

It took a few seconds for the thought to register as a problem in his head, and then it clicked. In their rush to rescue Rika, they hadn't left anyone to protect the ship. A reckless move on their part. Then he remembered something else.

"Oh, Impmon! Impmon stayed behind on the ship." He said, trying to sound confident in an attempt to turn things around.

The attempt failed miserably.

"_IMPMON!_ You left **IMPMON** in charge of _my_ _ship!" _Rika bellowed as she stalked the now cowering young man. For his friends sake though, Henry stepped in.

"Now don't worry Rika. I'm sure that as soon as we get down to the dock we'll find that the ship is perfectly-"

* * *

"-gone."

There they were. Standing on the dock where the _Ice Queen's Revenge_ had once been. Now it was nowhere in sight. The rest of the crew, having recovered the treasure chest and bringing it down the mountain, just stood on the edge of the village watching the three Tamers and their digimon on the wooden dock. The two young men nervously looked at the infuriated redhead to see her face scrunched into a hard glare and red with rage.

Rika closed her eyes and despite the two of them being slightly taller than her, she brought both of her fists down on their heads as she shouted in anger, "You two _dunderheads_ lost my ship!"

Both young men massaged their heads until the noticed the sound of a sword being drawn. They looked up to see Rika standing on the edge of the dock with her sword at her side and glaring at them.

"Can't we be reasonable and talk about this?" Takato inquired.

"Reasonable?" replied harshly. "You two didn't even bother about making sure our one way off this icecube is guarded, and you want me to be _reasonable_?"

"It could be worse."

"How?"

"Uuuuuhhhh…" was all Takato could respond with as he and Henry glanced at each other before spinning a one-eighty and began running for their lives. Sword in hand, Rika quickly gave chase. Guilmon and Terriermon were about to join as well but Renamon stopped them.

"Let them run. Rika just needs to let off some steam. They'll tire out and come back. By that time Impmon should be back with the ship."

"Wait," Terriermon exclaimed with surprise. "How do you know Impmon will be back? Was this a scheme all along?"

"No. I didn't know Impmon would take the ship out for a cruise, but despite his downfalls Impmon isn't dumb enough to steal from Rika. He knows she'd hunt him to the ends of the earth if he did such a thing."

"What should we do about them?" Guilmon asked as he watched his tamer be chase around the edge of the island by the pirate captain.

"Let them bond. It's quite amusing watching those two interact." Renamon replied with a knowing smile.

* * *

**_Guest reviews:_**

**_BALTO1: I think this chapter probably answered your first question. As for the Digimon wearing pirate gear, I might add in a scene of them dressing up for fun later on. It probably won't be permanent though since the thought never really occurred to me aside from Impmon wearing his bandana around his head rather than his neck. Glad that you're enjoying the story._**

* * *

**_Also, if any of you haven't seen Jurassic World. Go see it now, it's AMAZING! Raptor squad forever!_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Growlmon Rises**

"Let me down from here! This is cruel and unusual punishment! I brought the ship back didn't I! I was just making sure they didn't steal it for themselves. Come on, I had them eating out of the palm of my hand!"

And thus Impmon kept shouting ever since he chewed through the gag in his mouth. He was currently tied up and hanging from the mast over the ocean. His ranting was interrupted every now and then when the occasional shark jumped up and tried to eat him.

Takato was currently mopping the deck within hearing range. He and Henry had managed to outrun Rika long enough for most of her anger to burn off. _Most, _being the key word in that sentence. She still gave them a sound beating once she caught up to them.

"Hey, Goggles!" Takato paused as he pondered if he should acknowledge the purple troublemaker. He knew that Impmon was going to keep talking anyway, so he turned to look at the small digimon.

"You're in good standing with the captain. She owes you for saving her life after all. So call in a favor and get me down from here!"

"I don't think she has that high an opinion of me." Takato replied.

"Hah! You're still alive aren't you?"

"She tried to kill me and Henry when you stole the ship."

"Trust me kid, when Pineapple-head is set on killing someone, she doesn't show mercy."

"I'm not sure…" Takato replied nervously.

"Oh please, Pineapple-head's got a liking for you. Maybe she'll even give you a smooch." At that moment a shark leapt out of the water high enough to catch Impmon's tail in its teeth. **"YOOOWWWWWW!"**

* * *

Rika sat in her cabin as they sailed towards a port to resupply. Impmon's little venture with the ice island's natives had cost them a fair amount of their rations. They would have to get more before they could continue.

At that moment, Rika had a different train of thought running through her head. Once again Takato had come to rescue her from peril. Now she had a series of weird feelings bubbling up inside of her. Many of which were emotions that she hadn't felt for years.

'_What is this happening to me? Why would that Gogglehead spark these feelings inside of me?"_

She would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't taking a liking to the young man. She found his innocence and nervous nature cute. She also had a certain respect for his courage. Could she be developing feelings for him? She had never considered the prospect of getting into a relationship.

No! She wasn't going to think like that. Getting close to people brought nothing but pain.

But didn't they prove her wrong? It was only after she accepted Renamon as her friend that she digivolved. Of course, Renamon was an exception. She'd been loyal to Rika as a friend for years without fail. Friendship was different from a courting relationship though. Was she willing to risk the pain? Takato was reliable, but she had thought the same thing about her father.

Before her thoughts could continue, she sensed Renamon phase into the room.

"Henry has translated the next clue."

* * *

The three tamers and their digimon met below deck around a small desk with a lantern sitting on it along with the next clue. The map depicted a diamond shaped island with a picture of a dragon in the center of the island. The lines of digicode surrounded the island.

"It took me a little while because Shibumi ciphered the lines into a code. The first bit is coordinates for the island while the rest is about what challenge we will face once we're there."

_Diamond Island cursed and worn,_

_By the demon dragon-born._

_The dragon sealed, now it waits,_

_For an opponent with noble traits._

"Great," Rika sighed. She was starting to get tired of this cycle, especially after their most recent encounter. "Another island and another digimon waiting for us."

"It would seem that way." Henry commented.

* * *

After reaching the supply point and restocking, Rika plotted their course and ordered them set sail. One day as they were traveling, Rika stepped out of her cabin to see how things were going on deck. All the crew went silent as they were under her watchful eye. The only one who wasn't scared was Calumon, who just ran around asking people if they wanted to play with him. As she approached the bow of the ship she noticed a familiar young man wearing goggles sitting at the base of the bowsprit. Guilmon was sleeping next to him with a light snore. He held a notebook and a pen in his hand as he drew what appeared to be a larger version of Guilmon.

"What is that?" she inquired as her curiosity getting the better of her.

Takato jumped and dropped his notebook out of fright. His head spun around in alarm and surprise that Rika was speaking to him. He also hadn't been expecting the glint of genuine interest in her eye.

"Oh, uh, I was just drawing Guilmon's champion form." He replied while nervously scratching the back of his head. He picked up the notebook and handed it to her so she could have a better look. She took the drawing and looked it over with a critical eye. She had to admit that he had skill with drawing.

"Not bad, but how do you know this is his champion form? I thought he had never digivolved?" she questioned.

"Well, I guess part of it might be because I never thought of what his digivolved form would look like."

Rika was giving him a skeptical look, wondering what he meant. Then she remembered what Renamon told her about Takato creating Guilmon.

"That's right. Since you created Guilmon, it would make sense that you would have to create his champion form before he can digivolve."

"Yeah… Wait, how did you know about that?" he remarked in surprise.

"I had Renamon spy on you when you first came aboard." She explained calmly. They stayed silent for a few minutes as they tried to figure where to take the conversation from there. Rika hesitated before deciding that now was as good a time as any to bring up the subject that had been plaguing her mind.

"What do you think of me?"

Takato had not been expecting the question, or rather he had no idea what she meant by it. Rika saw the confusion on his face and breathed a sigh before enlightening him.

"The encounter with Icedevimon is the second time in a row that you have," she paused briefly, not wanting to use the word _rescue_. "…come to my aid. So I want to know why."

Takato paused as he tried to go over his answer. He knew that he would have done the same thing for anyone, but it would be a lie to say he didn't have little more motivation to help Rika than someone else. He could see through a chink in the mask that she used to hide her emotions, and through the chink he could tell that she had her suspicions. So he decided to come clean.

"Well, I heard stories of you from some of the sailors who visited Shinjuku. I thought it was amazing that someone as young as you climbed the pirate ranks so fast. Then when you picked us up, I almost didn't believe that I was meeting you. Needless to say, reality is harsher than stories. But even with how you treated us, I still held respect for you."

"Why me?" Rika asked, intrigued by his answer.

"You're not like other girls. You're tough and stand on a different level from everyone else. I kind of like that."

"Hm, most boys wouldn't like the idea of a girl being tougher than they are."

"Haha, I'm not most boys." Takato replied.

"No, no you are not." Rika replied, her mouth twitching into a pleasant smirk. Takato's eyes widened at the sight which alerted Rika to her change in demeanor. She quickly shifted her mouth back to its normal straight line, mentally scolding herself for her slip-up. Takato just gave her a small smile at her insecurity.

"You should smile more," he told her. "You look really pretty when you do."

Her stoic expression turned into a slight scowl from his remark. For reasons unknown to Takato that remark struck a wrong chord in her. It brought back unpleasant memories of her mother. She always kept trying to make Rika into an over-glorified princess. She didn't want to be some pretty face that only got fame for her looks. She had left that life behind for a reason.

Takato's smile fell as he saw her expression fall and she started to walk away. Did he say something wrong? He set his stuff aside and got up to follow her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which turned out to be a mistake as she instinctively grabbed it and twisted to the point she almost broke his wrist.

"Ow ow ow! I just wanted to know what I said that upset you," He pleaded.

Rika paused as she looked at the young man in her grip. She guessed she couldn't really blame the gogglehead for making an innocent comment. He had no way of knowing it would bring up memories of the past. She sighed as she let go of his hand. Takato rubbed his wrist as he stood up.

"It's not your fault. I just don't care to be called pretty," she told him. There was a bizarre stillness in the air around them. She looked around and saw all of the crew staring at her. Takato was looking at her with a stunned expression on his face, and even Renamon was staring with a surprised look from her perch on the mast.

It was then Rika realized what had caused this. She had practically just apologized. She never apologized. She better act quickly before she inadvertently damaged her reputation even further.

"Get back to work!" Rika barked to the crew. She then turned to Takato. "That means you too Gogglehead!"

With that she stormed off to her cabin and slammed the door behind her. Takato just stared in wonder, still stunned by the captain's apology. He didn't even notice Guilmon wake from his sleep and walk up beside him.

"Did I miss something Takatomon?"

Takato sighed in exasperation. "You have no idea."

Despite everything though, a smile formed on his face. He was finally getting through to her.

* * *

Several days later the _Ice Queen's Revenge _dropped anchor off the coast of Diamond Island. The three tamers, their digimon, and Impmon were rowing to shore in a dinghy. After the last incident, Rika didn't trust Impmon by himself on her ship. Impmon didn't have a problem with tagging along. He apparently wanted to meet this dragon in order to prove his strength.

Once they reached the shore they entered the jungle before them and followed Henry as he read the directions on the map. When they got close to the center of the island, they started seeing the broken down remains of ancient stone pillars. A short ways after that, they came across a large stone temple. Rika crafted a torch out of a stick and some thatch before leading them into the temple. The walls of the deserted hallways were decorated with hieroglyphs of the island's history.

The group moved on in silence until the grinding sound of stone echoed through the hallway. Everyone turned to the source of the noise to see Guilmon stepping on a pressure pad. Guilmon looked innocently between the others and his foot. Before anyone could throw an accusation, a rumbling noise filled the air.

Immediately, everyone instinctively ran away from the noise and down the hallway. They came up to an intersection of different passageways. Henry, Terriermon, and Takato leapt into the left hallway, Rika, Guilmon, and Renamon dashed down the right hallway, and Impmon continued to run down the center path. The large stone boulder that had been chasing them got lodged in the center of the intersection.

Rika looked up at the boulder from the stone stairs they were standing on. There was no way they were going to move that boulder. None of Renamon's attacks were strong enough to break it, but maybe Guilmon could.

"Guilmon."

"Yeah," he replied in his childish tone. His yellow eyes reflecting the torchlight in the darkness.

"Do you think you could smash this boulder out of the way?"

"Hmm, maybe."

"Well, give it a try. I'd rather stick together in case something goes wrong." Rika, mentally scolded herself for sounding concerned. But there was some kind of demonic dragon in this temple, and she doubted the others could fight it with just Terriermon. Besides, Guilmon was so childish and innocent that it was hard to be mean to him, kind of like Takato.

Guilmon stepped up to take a crack at destroying the boulder. Just as he was about to set his foot down, Renamon's eyes widened.

"Guilmon wait!"

"Huh?" Guilmon replied, but he had already put his foot down. The stone step receded into the floor. The stairs tilted down and turned into a giant slide. The three slide down before any of them could get a grip to hold on.

* * *

Meanwhile Impmon just kept running down the halls of the temple, not realizing the boulder had stopped chasing him. He ran through the dark passages until it opened up into a large chamber and he nearly ran off the side of a staircase. He skidded to a stop right at the edge of the twenty foot drop.

He looked around the chamber and saw several chunks of the ceiling were missing, allowing beams of sunlight to illuminate the room. Several forty foot tall, engraved pillars held up what remained of the roof. Impmon looked to the center of the room to see a sight that made him catch his breath.

In the center of the chamber sat a Devidramon. He just sat there with his eyes closed as if he were resting. His black and tattered wings were folded against his back and his tails was curled around his feet. As Impmon looked closer, he noticed that the air around Devidramon was a little hazy.

He walked down the staircase and approached the large dragon. He noted that there were two entrances to either side of the room should he need to make a quick exit. He soon stood directly in front of the demon and noticed something interesting. A chest with an iron lock was sitting square between Devidramon's feet. With his arrogant nature dying to get out, Impmon decided to be a little daring.

"Hey Dogbreath, wake up!"

The dragon stirred from his sleep and opened two pairs of crimson red eyes. His lips curled back as he snarled at the imp before his feet. He lunged at the potential snack, but was stopped by the wall of the invisible bubble that contained him. His would be attack caused Impmon to jump back in fright. He settled down once he realized the strike had never come. Seeing that the monster was trapped caused a huge boost in Impmon's daringness.

"Hah, think you can take me on you overgrown gecko! I'm the strongest digimon there is. And with you stuck in this bubble you're at my mercy. Got it!"

He emphasized that last statement by pointing his finger far enough to touch the bubble. Much to his surprise though, the bubble started to dissolve from where his finger had touched it. As soon as the bubble had completely dissolved, Devidramon stood up to his full height. Impmon's cheeky grin fell as he sweatdropped.

Devidramon let out a fearsome roar as the two split off groups entered the chamber through the two side entrances. The dark dragon's gaze shifted to Guilmon and his eyes narrowed at the red dino. Guilmon's pupils went feral as he snarled and got into an attack stance.

"Finally my adversary arrives." Devidramon said before lashing out with his tail. Guilmon leapt out of the way as the attack cracked the stone floor. Takato ran into the room while looking through his modify cards. Rika pulled out her own digivice and looked to Renamon but was surprised to see her just standing there, intensely watching the battle before them.

"Renamon what are you doing?" Rika question her second in command.

"I cannot interfere. This is Guilmon's fight," she responded. Rika gritted her teeth and turned back to watch, hating the feeling of uselessness.

**"Pyro Sphere!"**

The red ball of fire had almost no effect on the champion level dragon. Devidramon used his tail to bat Guilmon away and into the wall of the temple. Takato watched in a panic as he dug through his pocket searching for a modify card. He pulled out a card and slid it through the D-arc.

**"Digimodify! Power Activate!"**

Slightly rejuvenated, Guilmon fired off another Pyro Sphere which managed to stagger the demon. Devidramon retaliated with Crimson Claw and sent Guilmon crashing through the wall and into the jungle outside. Takato and the others followed the battle as Devidramon crashed through the wall after Guilmon.

When they got outside they witnessed Devidramon smashing Guilmon around with his tail. Desperation overtook Takato as he emptied his pockets and spilled all his modify cards on the ground. The others watched with concern as the outcome of the battle seemed certain. None of them paid any attention to the white creampuff hiding in the trees above them, nor did they see the red glow emitting from his forehead.

"No," Takato muttered to himself. "Guilmon!"

Guilmon started to glow red as Takato's D-arc shined brightly. An egg of red and white light surrounded Guilmon.

**"Guilmon digivolve to…"**

A larger version Guilmon burst from the egg. He had white hair on his head with two large horns above each of his eyes, and claw-like scales on his forearms.

**"Growlmon."**

The Tamers looked on in awe as the Growlmon emerged before them. The newly evolved champion level stood even with the demon dragon. What Growlmon lacked in agility he made up for with strength. The inside of Growlmon's mouth glowed red as he readied his attack.

**"Pyro Blaster!"**

Devidramon launched himself into the air to evade the attack. The ball of fire flew through the trees and out of sight. The demon circled in the air before he swooped down for his attack. At the same time, the blade on Growlmon's arm started to glow blue.

**"Crimson Claw!"**

**"Dragon Slash!"**

The attacks swiped through the air as they passed each other. The demon skidded to a halt behind Growlmon. After a few tense seconds Devidramon blurred before shattering into a storm of crimson particles. The red particles flew towards Growlmon and were absorbed into his body.

"Haha, you did it Growlmon!" Takato shouted in glee as he ran towards his partner. The large dino turned towards him with glaring red eyes. A growl reverberated through his throat as he stalked towards his tamer. Takato stopped in his tracks as the giant red digimon walked towards him.

"G-Growlmon?" Takato nervously took a step back.

_I didn't want him to turn into this. This must be why Henry and Rika were scared of their digimon digivolving. Why couldn't he be a little less scary?_

The others watched in tense fear as the large dragon digimon looked down on his tamer. Rika pulled out a modify card if things went for the worst. Takato lowered his head, leaving his fate in Growlmon's hands. His knees and fists were shaking in fear.

"_Don't…be…afraid_."

Takato looked up in surprise to see Growlmon frowning at him. Tears were on the verge of falling from his eyes as he sniffled. Seeing him like this, Takato suddenly found him much less scary than he had been moments ago. Growlmon leaned down so that his nose was only a foot from his face. Takato raised his hand and put it on Growlmon's nose.

"Don't worry Growlmon, I'm not afraid of you."

"Takatomon, can I go back to being Guilmon so that I don't scare you?"

"Yeah, let's go back to the beach, relax and turn you back. It shouldn't be too hard."

Behind the two partners, their four friends let out a sigh of relief. Rika placed the modify card back in her pouch. The six began their trek through the jungle and back towards the ship. Growlmon kept unintentionally knocking down trees, making a clear path through the jungle for them.

"I hope you know we can't take him onto the ship like that." Rika spoke to Takato as she walked alongside him.

"Yeah I know," he replied. It wasn't hard to figure out that Growlmon was too big to fit in the rowboat. Even if they got him to the ship, he would take up to much space on the deck.

"So any ideas how to change him back?" she asked. Renamon and Terriermon hadn't taken too long to change back to their rookie forms when they digivolved.

Up ahead they could see the light reflecting off the sand and shining through the trees. As Growlmon knocked over the last few trees he stopped dead in his tracks. His tail fell to the ground and his batwing ears drooped low.

"Uh-oh."

The others stepped around Growlmon to see what the matter was. As soon as they did, they all slowly shuffled away from Rika as her fist began to shake and her face turned red. Sitting in the water in front of them was her ship. Smoke rose from the center of the _Ice Queen's Revenge _as the center mast had been snapped at the base and had toppled into the ocean. It would seem that that was where Growlmon's stray Pyro Blaster had gone.

Rika gritted her teeth and growled in anger. It would take ages for them to get seaworthy again. Even then they would have to sail to a port to get the main mast repaired.

"I'm sorry," she heard from her right. She was slightly startled as she looked up and saw Growlmon giving her an apologetic look. He was trying his best to crouch down and be as small as possible. She let out a sigh as she turned away.

"Don't worry about it too much. You didn't know you were going to hit the ship. At least she's still floating."

Everyone stared after her in shock as she walked away. They hadn't been expecting her to be so, dare they use the word, _kind_ about it. As her form disappeared back into the jungle, Terriermon was the first one to speak up…unfortunately.

"What is up with her? There's no way she would be that nice if I wrecked her ship."

"Well, Growlmon didn't do it intentionally." Takato noted to his friend's defense.

"So? She still wouldn't be that nice to me. Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?" he stated, pointing an accusatory finger at Takato. The goggle wearing man turned a bright shade of red as he tried to stammer out a response. Thankfully Henry was there to come to his aid.

"Terriermon," he reprimanded while rapping the dog-bunny's head with his knuckle.

"Ow, Momentai will ya."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: How to train your Gogglehead**

* * *

It had been a day since the incident with Devidramon. The crew had been busy cleaning up and assessing the damage from Growlmon's stray Pyro Blaster. Upon inspection they found that not only did the main mast need to be replaced, but a row of floorboards across the top deck had been scorched to the point that they crumbled to ash when touched

As Rika made her way through the tropical leaves, looking for any vegetation that could be harvested to replace the resources they would be losing by this delay, she heard a _*thwomp*_ to her left. She crouched down and moved to investigate the mystery noise. The _*thwomp*_ was soon followed by rattling leaves. As Rika got closer she heard the leaves of a tree rattle before it crashed to the ground.

"Awww," she heard a familiar nasally voice groan.

"Don't worry Growlmon," Renamon's voice spoke reassuringly.

Rika poked her head up from behind the bush to see Renamon standing in front of Growlmon. Right next to them there was the tree that Growlmon had just knocked down. Growlmon was crouched low to the ground to avoid the branches overhead. He took a few sniffs of the air before turning towards Rika as she stepped out of the bushes.

"What exactly is going on here?" Rika questioned. In retrospect her voice was a bit harsher than it should have been. She was so used to demanding fear and respect that it was almost ingrained in her vocal cords.

"Renamon's teaching me to be sneaky," Growlmon replied in his usual cheery voice, to which Renamon elaborated.

"After the incident in the temple I decided it might be best to teach Guilmon how to be better aware of his surroundings. So we're taking the time we have on this island to train."

Rika had no qualms with that idea. Growlmon being less clumsy would definitely be a good thing. Less accident's involving death boulders and stone slides would not be a bad thing. Now if only some sense could be knocked into his Tamer.

"You know, it might be worth some time to teach Takato a few things." Renamon suggested, seeming to know what her tamer was thinking. Rika slightly flinched at her suggestion, plus how she seemed to know her line of thought.

"I'll think it over," was all she said in response before starting the trek back to their camp.

* * *

Takato sat beneath the shade of a tree as he drew on a piece of canvas. He was currently drawing a culmination of all the digimon they had encountered on their adventure so far. He was in the middle of drawing Calumon's head when he heard someone walking up behind him. He looked to see Rika standing next to him with one hand on her hip and an extra sword in the other. With the way the sun shone through the leaves, she looked mystically beautiful.

"Here," she said before dropping the sword in Takato's lap. This caused him to drop his charcoal pencil. "I think it's about time you got some proper sword training."

She started walking away as Takato stumbled over a response in his head. Seeing Rika disappear into the shrubbery, he set his drawing supplies aside and quickly followed so that he didn't lose her. Rika led him through the dense foliage until they reached the clearing that Growlmon had fought Devidramon in.

As soon as they reached the center of the clearing Rika turned towards him and drew her sword. Takato stumbled back before grasping his sword and pulling it from its sheath on his belt. He gripped the handle of his cutlass firmly nervously watching the skeptical look on Rika's face.

Rika locked their blades and spun his sword in a clockwise motion, before reversing direction and slapping the blade away. She then swung at his head but stopped just before the blade touched his neck. They stood still for a few seconds before Rika pulled her sword away and took a few steps back.

"Keep one foot in front of the other and relax your stance." She began instructing. "Cutlasses are meant for stabbing and quick slashes. Keep your arm loose so you can make quick attacks and parries."

Takato adjusted his stance and relaxed the muscles in his arm. Rika looked his stance over and began nudging his feet to correct it. She then retook her sparring position opposite him. She raised her sword so that their blades touched.

She swung a quick strike from his top left, and he quickly moved his sword to deflect. She then struck from the opposite side and he deflected once more. Rika then swung a low strike at his leg. Takato deflected but Rika rushed forward, grabbed him from behind and tossed/flipped him to the ground. Takato looked up to see the tip of Rika's sword in his face.

"I think some would consider that cheating."

"Hmph, there's no such thing as cheating in a battle," she explained as she stepped away to let him up. "You live or you die. That's all there is to it."

"That's a bit grim don't you think?" Takato replied as he stood up.

"You and Guilmon have fought digimon before, it's the same principle. You do what's necessary to win, the alternative is death. The world is cruel, and you'll only survive it if you have the skills to do so."

"Is that why you're training me?"

That last question caught her off guard. Why was she training him? She looked back and realized that she had let him and Guilmon get away with things she would usually kill people over. Now here she was, training him to be a better fighter.

"I'm training you because I need you to help find Shibumi's treasure," Rika told him, though it was more of a lie (both to him and to herself). "You, Henry and you're digimon are a means to an end. I'm just taking steps to ensure you make it there."

Takato fought back the urge to smile at her. He could tell that she cared, even if she denied it to herself. They carried on training for a couple hours until the sky began to turn orange. They then returned to camp for supper and to get a report on the ship's repairs.

* * *

Six days later _The Ice Queen's Revenge _was seaworthy once more. Their supplies were greatly depleted though, and the repairs to the main mast were temporary at best. There was no chance of it holding up in a storm, so they needed to get to a port for proper repairs soon. That is what Rika, Henry, and Takato were discussing in her quarters.

"No."

"But Shinjuku is the closest island with a port." Henry argued. He and Takato had suggested stopping by their home island for repairs, but Rika had immediately shot them down. Now even after explaining their situation to her, she was still stubbornly rejecting the notion.

"We are not going to Shinjuku. Hypnos' main base of operations is there. That's one problem I don't intend to walk right into."

"We have some extra wood, so we can cover the ship's name on the back. Besides we know how to keep our digimon secret around town. Plus we could vouch for you in town."

"Or you could run to Hypnos and rat me out," she said, getting up and slamming both hands on her desk. "We are not going to Shinjuku, and that's final."

"What! Rika we would never-," Takato tried to interject, but was shut down by Rika's glare.

"I said, **That's final**."

Deciding that this was a lost cause, Henry turned around and began to leave the cabin. Rika just turned around and faced the window with her hands crossed over her chest. Takato was about to follow Henry out, but stopped at the door to her cabin. There had to be something more to this. They had been through too much together for there to not be some level of trust between them. Plus those days they spent training with each other had actually brought them closer, or so he thought. So the question then was, _why was she so reluctant to trust people?_

"Rika?" he started. The redhead just stood there gazing out the window. "Why are you so insistent to not go to Shinjuku?"

"Like I said, Hypnos is based there and I have no guarantee that you won't sell us out," she said defensively.

"You know that I would never do that to you."

Takato didn't expect was what she would say next or how melancholy she would be when she said it.

"I thought that about someone once before."

"Rika," he spoke to her pleadingly. "I promise neither Henry nor I will sell you out to Hypnos."

"I believe you," she finally conceded, much to Takato's surprise. "But I have my own reason's to avoid Shinjuku."

"Like what?"

Rika heaved a sigh. She was nervous but she knew deep down that she could trust Takato, even if she denied it. She turned to look him straight in the eye. "Rika Nonaka isn't the name I was born with. My birth name was Ruki Makino."

"You're Governess Makino's daughter!?"

Takato gasped as his eyes widened. The more he thought about it, the more pieces fit into place. Five years ago governess Makino's daughter had gone missing and everyone had searched for her for weeks. After a little over a month the search was called off and the Governess went through a serious stage of depression. A year after her disappearance, stories started sailing in about a red haired girl who was quickly becoming a fearsome pirate captain.

"But how? Why?" he stuttered. "How could you leave your mom like that!?"

"How? Why?" she turned on him, rage from the past coming back to add anger to her words. "My mother was never there for me to leave. It was always some governess business to attend or some party or social event or anything. And the few times she was there, it was only about her! I was her doll to dress up and look pretty. She wanted to make me just like her, but she never caught on that I didn't want to be like her. So I took my destiny into my own hands and ran. Renamon and I snuck out of the estate, went down to the docks and stowed away on a trade ship. Everything after that is legend."

Takato just stood there, stunned at the revelation that had just been made known to him. The feared pirate captain was also the daughter of Shinjuku's governess. How was he supposed to react to this. After hearing the story from Rika, he wasn't sure if he could fault her for running away. Fortunately, Renamon phased in to interrupt the awkward silence that had filled the cabin.

"Rika, you're going to want to come out and see this." She said before phasing out of view.

With her interest peaked, Rika stepped around her desk and past Takato. The gogglehead soon snapped out of his shock and followed her. Once they exited her cabin they walked up to the aft deck were Renamon was standing next to the starboard railing. Looking out they saw the small silhouette of a ship in the distance. Rika pulled out her spyglass and put it to her eye to get a better look at the ship. Her scowl morphed into a menacing glare as she recognized the vessel. She brought her spyglass down and slammed it closed as she seethed through her teeth.

"_Akiyama._"

* * *

_**Dun Dun Duuh! So now Rika's background has been revealed! What will Takato do about it? How will Rika handle a potential encounter with her arch-nemesis? Will it be ANOTHER several months before I update this story? Find out next time on Digimon Tamer - Pirates!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Return to Shinjuku**

* * *

Henry and Takato stood to the side as Rika continued to glare at the ship in the distance. They occasionally shared a worried glance with each other as the air fell silent. Takato's heart nearly stopped when she turned to address one the crew behind him.

"What is the ship's condition?"

"Ma'am, we're still missing several cannons, and the mast could easily get shot down. If you're looking for a fight, we're at a severe disadvantage."

Rika's scowl refused to let up as she weighed her options. She knew there wasn't a chance of fighting Akiyama and winning. However, without any nearby islands and supplies running low there weren't many options available. In fact, there was only one option left to them if they didn't want to end up dead or in chains.

Looks like they were all going home.

Rika leaned against a stack of rum barrels as she listened to the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku's harbor. Her arms were folded over her chest and her head was tilted down as she tried to avoid drawing attention to herself. Her three corner hat hid her ponytail while her long coat helped hide her figure. Female captains were rare and she wanted to reduce the possibility that she would be recognized.

Her third in command was out arranging repairs for their ship while Takato and Henry were in charge of purchasing supplies. Though she initially didn't want them to go ashore, they knew the inhabitants better than anyone. She just hoped they didn't draw unwanted attention. This was Hypnos' base of operations, and the return of two men who were thought to be dead would likely draw their attention.

The island hadn't changed much since she left five years ago. Her mother's mansion was still sitting atop a hill that overlooked the harbor. Many of the same shops were still standing where they always had. Including that obnoxious dress store her mother would always shop at.

She spotted Takato and Henry walking through one of the streets. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a girl in a green and yellow dress run out of a tavern and tackle hug Takato. At that moment she felt a strange tug at her gut, but she couldn't tell why. She continued to watch as the girl was shouting at them with a worried look on her face. Takato was scratching the back of his head as he seemed to have difficulty explaining their situation to her.

"It seems those two have run into an old friend," Renamon commented from perch on the barrels above her.

Before Rika could reply, her view was obstructed by a familiar carriage. Her eyes trailed after the carriage as it made its way to a fancy dress shop. Rika left her spot and walked towards the shop, trying to stay inconspicuous. As she got closer she could see Rumiko Makino exit her carriage and enter the store. She overheard her talking to who must have been a visiting friend of hers. It was something about some governor that she couldn't care less about.

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

"So do you think they'll keep quiet until we leave?" Takato asked.

"Well, I trust them more than I trust Kazu or Kenta. Although I doubt we can keep our return secret from our parents forever," Henry replied.

"Why do we have to keep secret," Terriermon asked from inside Henry's satchel.

"With everything that's happened, my parents would ground me for life!"

"But Takato, you're a grown man!" Terriermon pointed out.

"Tell that to my mom," Takato countered in a glum tone.

"TAKATO!"

The goggle-wearing man only had a second to react before Jeri collided into him, her arms wrapping around him in a tight embrace. As soon as the hug came, he was pushed away and being shouted at.

"Do you have any idea how much you two worried me! Henry's dad and Yamaki returned on a fishing boat after being stuck on an island for three days. They told us their ship sank and that they thought you were dead! We held a funeral for you and everything! Then you two come back on some broken ship, and you don't even bother to TELL ME!"

_"Well, at least Jeri hasn't lost her motherly instincts."_ Takato thought to himself while being berated by the brown haired girl. It was then that he noticed the sight of a disguised Rika walking down the street. He wondered what had caught her attention that would cause her to wander from the harbor.

"Hey Jeri, why don't I show you the ship were sailing on? Takato still has some supplies to get before we leave again." Henry chimed in at a break in Jeri's speech. Takato made mental note to thank Henry later.

As Henry and Jeri walked towards the docks, Takato went in the direction he had seen Rika walking. He spotted her standing across the street from a fancy dress shop. She was just standing there, staring at the shop. She didn't even seem to notice him walk up to her.

"Ri- I mean, uhm, captain?"

Rika turned to see Takato standing to her left. She guessed he must have spotted her on the way back to the ship. She hadn't noticed that she had been standing there, staring at the dress shop.

"What is it Takato?" she asked him sternly.

"Oh-uh, I was just wondering what you were doing over here? I didn't know that you liked dresses."

Takato instantly regretted his poor choice of a joke as Rika gave him a glare that could kill.

"Takato," she said in a cold, threatening voice. "Didn't we just recently have a discussion about how I don't like dresses? So what would make you think I'd find humor in such a joke?"

Takato gulped in fear as his mind scrambled to find an answer that would make her angrier. This, of course, only caused his thoughts to become more jumbled. Fortunately, he was ironically saved by the subject of prior joke. Rika's mom exited the store, drawing the attention of the two pirates. Rika quickly turned away and walked off, grabbing Takato's arm to drag him along in the process. Unnoticed by the two, Rumiko took a moment of pause as she thought one of them looked familiar.

* * *

"So, what was that all about?" Takato asked as he was still being dragged by the arm. He _had_ noticed Rumiko Makino, a.k.a. her mother, leaving the shop. However, given the rough past Rika seemed to have with her mother he opted for an indirect approach.

"It was nothing." She replied curtly. "I was just taking a look around to see if things had changed."

"Oh,- so has anything changed?"

Rika paused causing Takato to bump into her, but she didn't budge. She thought about the brief "encounter" she had with her mother. The years had been good to her since she didn't too much older than she had when she left. It seemed her position hadn't changed and judging from the conversation she was having, her topics of interest hadn't changed at all. In fact, it seemed like her leaving hadn't affected her at all.

So all she responded with was, "No, not really."


	8. Chapter 8

_**Here we are, the last update of 2016. I must take this time to apologize to my readers about how slow on the updates I've been. 2016 has been quite the year for me. I wish there was an option that I could write for this site full time, but unfortunately I have to prioritize the things that will make me money (either now or in the future) because life isn't cheap. **_

**_On top of that, I've hit a few spots of high stress and what I suspect to be mild depression (at worst mind you). Thankfully there are some funny YouTubers out there who helped keep me sane. Am I exaggerating? Possibly, but that will probably happen when you work a job, take college courses (multiple at a time), and are trying to figure out what you want to do with your life._**

**_But enough of me rambling about the low points of my year, lets point out a few positive things about the future. For example, now that I've adjusted more to being thrown into college, I should (theoretically) have more time for updating this stuff...that is unless I get inspiration to work on one of the other fifteen ideas in my head. In short, I have an entire book series planned out in my head, I'm working out the plot and details for a web show, and you might soon be able to find me on other media platforms (YouTube). _**

**_So, yeah, I guess that was my 2016 update. I'm sorry it's a long author's note, but I felt you guys deserved to know after being so patient with me all year. So, to paraphrase one of said YouTubers:_**

**_Onwards! To STORY!_**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Dead Halfwits Tell No Tales**

* * *

It would seem that nothing was going to go Rika's way during their stay in Shinjuku. This started to become obvious as she and Takato returned to the ship, where there was some kind of commotion. Rika quickened her pace as she heard one of her crew berating a trespasser on the ship, although it sounded more desperate than violent. When Rika got the deck of the ship she stopped in her tracks as she found out what the commotion was about.

"Ma'am how many times am I going to say this, you can't be on this ship!"

"Don't be ridiculous young man. I have every right to see my granddaughter," the older lady replied.

"GRANDMA!" Rika shouted in shock, causing all eyes and head to turn towards her.

"Oh Ruki!" Seiko exclaimed as she made her way towards the startled captain. She didn't look like someone who just found their long lost granddaughter, more like someone arriving at a long expected reunion. She embraced the feared pirate in a suffocating hug, which just turned Rika's mind to mush as she tried to figure out if this was a dream or not. The older lady then held her at arms length and examined her, "Look at how much you've grown. And what a beautiful young lady you've become."

She then turned to the goggle wearing man standing awkwardly behind her, not quite sure how he should react. He had never seen Rika so flustered. Unfortunately things were about to get worse for him as well.

"Oh, aren't you the Matsuki's boy. I occasionally get bread from their store. Well, at least I know a decent man is looking after my granddaughter."

"Grandma, what are you-? Why are you-? How did you-?"

Off to the side, an amused Henry and a confused Jeri watched as the peculiar encounter unfolded before them. Henry couldn't hold back the smile on his face as he watched the dreaded pirate captain become more flustered than Takato trying to talk to a girl. He wondered if there was a way he could use this against Rika the next time she tried to boss them around.

Jeri on the other hand had absolutely no idea what was going on. She didn't exactly know what she expected the dreaded Rika Nonaka to look like, but she didn't expect her to look so pretty. Granted, the redhead did a good job hiding her beauty, giving off an air of dread that would cause most to look away. But even dressed like a boy she couldn't hide all the features that made her attractive.

The second thing she had not expected was for the captain's entire attitude to be thrown out the window by an elderly lady, though from what she gathered it seemed that said lady was her grandmother. This of course, only confused her more since she hadn't even know the Pirate Empress was from Shinjuku. She was pretty sure information like that would easily pass through her father's tavern, seeing as it was the main hub of information and rumors on the island.

"Oh Ruki, you didn't think I wouldn't be able to make the connection, did you? You disappear suddenly and shortly after a pirate girl with fire-red hair starts becoming famous across the seas. You always were ambitious, even if you were subtle in how you showed it when you were younger. As for your ship, I was having a nice stroll through town when I spotted you by the harbor. I recognized your signature eyes and hair. Before I could say anything though you wandered off and I lost you in the crowd, so I figured you had to come in on the only unfamiliar ship at the docks."

Rika's out of character stuttering halted as her eyes widened in fear. Forget that her grandmother had almost snuck up on her without her noticing. If her grandma made the connection, did that mean her mother knew as well? Was her grandmother going to go tell her that her daughter had returned home? Was that quick getaway from earlier all for naught?

She could see it now, her mother racing on board and demanding that she put on a dress. She'd probably drag her home and place her under armed guard twenty-four seven. Then she would probably throw some obnoxious party with rich and snobby guests to celebrate her return. Knowing her mother, she'd probably even find a way to spin the whole Pirate Empress image in her favor.

"Does Mo-, Rumiko, know about me being here?" She questioned nervously, doing her best to keep what remained of her stone cold expression. The first answer she received was a sympathetic look from her grandmother.

"No, no she doesn't. I know she can be difficult and that that was the reason you left. It wasn't easy, not telling her you were alive. She hasn't been the same since you left, it was worse than when your father disappeared."

Rika mulled the words over in her head as she chewed her bottom lip. She could see the unspoken question in her grandmother's eyes. She steeled herself by taking a breath and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm not going back to her," she stated flatly. "If I go back she'll just become even more possessive and try to change me into something I don't want to be."

Seiko breathed a sad sigh as she accepted her granddaughter decision. "Very well. I can't say your judgment is unfounded." She then began to make her way to the gangplank that led off the ship. She placed a hand on the railing as she paused and turned back to the pirate captain. "But I would request that you ask yourself; is a feared pirate what you truly want to be?" She then turned to Takato. "Please take care of my granddaughter."

Takato gave her a nod, "I promise. Nothing will harm Rika while I'm around."

He knew Rika probably didn't like that idea of _him_ protecting _her_, but he didn't have the heart to tell the older lady otherwise. He couldn't imagine how worried she had been for her granddaughter these past years. It was one thing to assume someone dead, but to know they were alive yet were in the face of danger on a daily basis, that was something else.

A small but sad smile grew on Seiko's face as she resumed her walk. "Good. I don't think I could choose a better boy to be my granddaughter's boyfriend."

There was a moment of silence as both Takato and Rika's faces turned beat red. Rika fought back the urge to scream that it wasn't true to her grandmother. However, she didn't want to crush what might have been one of the only bright spots of the day for the older lady. That…and something else. When she actually thought about the idea, it didn't seem that foreign to her. Of course she still wasn't going to admit that out loud.

The silence was broken by Rika's footsteps as she turned around to address her crew.

"So what's the status on getting the ship repaired," she questioned the one she put in charge of the project.

"They said it will take a few days to get the necessary items to repair the ship, then a few more for the actual repairs. So we're looking at a week at least, possibly two at most."

Rika sighed in frustration and raised a hand to rub her chin as she pondered the information. They would be stuck here for at least a week, which meant she had to dodge attention for a week. She could probably hide in her cabin that entire time. She didn't mind cooping herself up in there most of the time, she just didn't like the idea of being _forced_ to hide in there. She wasn't very keen on the idea of hiding anywhere to be honest.

"Fine, just get it done as quickly as you can. I want to be out of here as soon as-" she paused as she finally noticed a girl standing next to Henry. It was the same girl that she had seen with the two boys earlier that day. Rika made sure to address Henry with a scowl. "Who is this and why is she on my ship?"

Henry was unfazed by the Pirate Empress as he calmly explained, "This is Jeri. She's an old friend of ours and she wanted to see the ship. I didn't figure it would cause any harm so I gave her a tour."

Rika fixed a glare at Jeri to see how she reacted. She '_eeped_' and jumped a little but still stood her ground instead of hiding behind Henry. She didn't seem like the strongest person, but at least she was trustworthy. She knew Henry's sense of judgment was usually pretty sound, even if she didn't care to admit it. The last thing she needed was to give him more things to hold over her head.

"Fine, but if you tell anyone about me, I'll have Renamon hunt you down and feed you to the sharks." She half-threatened before turning in the direction of her cabin and started to walk towards it. "If you need me for anything I'll be in my quarters. It's starting to get late."

Once she had entered her cabin the rest of the crew got back to work so that repairs could go faster. Jeri and Henry walked over to stand by Takato, who was still staring at the door to the captain's quarters. Jeri had been watching his facial expressions during the conversation with Rika's grandmother and decided to be a little evil, knowing his reaction wouldn't fail to please her.

"So is she actually your girlfriend?"

* * *

Rika closed the door to her quarters before taking off the hat and coat she had been wearing all day. She hung them on some hooks next to the door before turning towards her desk. She was met with the sight of a certain devilish creature sitting upon it; a pest that she only then noticed had been (pleasantly) absent all day.

"So, ya think ol granny's gonna rat ya out." Impmon asked as he chewed an apple.

"Out of everyone in my family she is the one I trust the most. Besides, she's apparently been keeping my secret for six years. I think the real question is where have _you_ been all day?" Rika crossed her arms as she scowled at the little monster in front of her.

"Me?" Impmon replied innocently while placing a hand on his chest for emphasis. "I've been hangin out in here all day."

"Really?" Rika raised an eyebrow in questioning. Impmon was a well established troublemaker. It was hard for her to believe that he would just sit and do nothing all day long. This seemed to insult the little purple demon.

"Look, you're my only guaranteed ride off this rock, and I don't intend to be caught right under the nose of people who wouldn't give a second thought to killing me."

"Well look at that, you do have a brain afterall," Rika quipped with a smirk on her mouth.

"Hey! Careful, I ain't afraid to Badda' Boom ya right here." He exclaimed, standing up and lighting a fireball in his hand. However, a certain kitsune phased into existence behind him and lifted him by his tail, the fireball extinguishing in his hand as he panicked.

"Ahh! Hey put me down will ya! I was just joking, honest!"

With a nod from Rika, Renamon put Impmon down. Well, "dropped" would be the more appropriate word. The imp then picked himself up and dusted himself off (even though there wasn't any dust) and readjusted the bandana on his head.

Rika then addressed him as the absence of another small nuisance came to mind.

"Speaking of little troublemakers, do you know where Calumon is?"

"Wha? Well, how should I know dat? The little puffball probably got lost in the cargo below deck. That is if he isn't playing with those other two down there."

Getting lost was certainly a possibility. She remembered that the little guy would seemingly disappear then reappear at random. He didn't cause too much trouble though, and throwing him overboard would be like kicking a lost puppy, it just couldn't be done.

"I doubt he's playing, there would be more laughing from below deck if that was the case. You might as well make yourself useful and go see if you can find him. If he isn't below deck then see if he's wandered around town. Just be careful not to get spotted, I don't need any more trouble than I already have."

"Fine, I was getting bored in here anyway," Impmon half complained as he got up to leave.

Rika sat down in her chair and began twirling one of her cards between her fingers. As she stared out the window, grey storm clouds had quickly gathered overhead and she spotted a flash of lightning in the distance. A surprisingly fitting mood to represent her mind as she recalled the words of her grandmother.

_"But I would request that you ask yourself; is a feared pirate what you truly want to be?" _

Did she want to be a pirate that was feared by all? When she was younger, she had dreamed of having adventures on the sea. Finding treasure. Challenging new foes. _Becoming the best. _Pirate just seemed to be the choice that best fit the description. She probably could have joined some Navy, but then she would have to take orders and follow rules.

However, it hadn't been quite as fulfilling as she thought. Everyone was scared of her, regarded her as some kind of demon, which in turn made her the odd girl out even amongst pirates. While it was a position that she relished holding, it meant isolation for the most part. Years ago that would have seemed like the ideal life to her, but recently she had secretly been craving for something…_more_. She didn't want to become a social icon, but she had grown tired of being alone. It was a feeling that was hard for her to describe.

She had never been in it for the riches, even when starting out. She was the daughter of a governess so wealth had never been a problem for her. The only treasure she sought was Shibumi's, if only to be the first to uncover the mystery behind it.

She had wanted Renamon to get stronger, but that never seemed to happen. That is, until she met her two newest crew members and their Digimon. It was only because of those two that she broke the isolated shell she had lived in for so long. She still lived in the ruins, that was never going to change overnight, but she was a little more open to the idea of letting people in. Or at least, let one person in.

_"I don't think I could choose a better boy to be my granddaughter's boyfriend."_

Maybe there was a treasure that she desired after all.

* * *

Several days later, Takato was helping the crew bring supplies onto the ship. He had been ordered by Rika to stay close to the ship and away from people who could identify him easily. Thankfully Jeri had been keeping him company by dropping to check up on him and Henry every day. During the first few days she had brought them up to date on everything that had happened on Shinjuku. She also always brought some baked goods in a basket, and if her pattern was any indicator then she would show up in a few-

"Hello Takato."

Startled, Takato dropped the crate of supplies onto his foot. While it wasn't heavy enough to break anything, it still hurt like the one time a Demidevimon bit him. He yelled in pain and reached down to rub his aching foot, hopping precariously on one leg to greet his friend.

"Jeri! Did you have to scare me like that?"

She just smiled as she replied, "Well, I thought that since you've been sailing with a big scary pirate captain, that there was _no way_ you'd be startled by little old me."

When his foot was feeling better, -or numb to the pain at least-, Takato finished his work and sat down with Jeri on the ship's railing. As they ate their meal Takato continued to retell their adventures to Jeri. Just as he got to the part about Guilmon digivolving, Rika emerged from her cabin.

"Oh, hi Rika!" Jeri exclaimed, interrupting Takato from his story. After their initial encounter the two girls seemed to get along… decently at least. Rika became a little less negative of the girl after Henry confided in her that Jeri's mother had died when she was young. Having lost a parent herself, albeit to different circumstances, Rika could sympathize with the girl, and thus decided to be a little nicer to her.

Just then, all three of them heard some of the crewmates talking about something.

"Is it just me or do these barrels seem odd?"

"Yeah they do. Here, give me a hand with this."

The trio turned to see the two lift up one of the barrels and give it a good shake. The lid instantly broke off and out spilled a young man with black hair and wearing a pair of glasses. He landed on the back of his shoulders which left his legs hanging in the air. The two pirates continued with the second barrel and out crashed another man with spiked up brown hair.

"Kenta? Kazu?"

The two boys looked towards the source of the familiar voice and saw their old goggle-wearing friend.

"Hah! See Kenta, I told you Chumley was alive, and hanging out with pirates no less. Gotta say Takato, I didn't think you'd have the guts."

Rika turned to glare at the man next to her. "Friends of your's?"

Takato scratched the back of his head nervously. Out of everyone on Shinjuku, these two were admittedly the last he wanted Rika to meet. Mostly because he didn't want their deaths on his conscience.

"Yeah, we're his friends," Kazu declared as he and Kenta got up from the deck. "I'm Kazu and he's Kenta. What's your name hot stuff?"

Takato's nervous grin dropped off his face and if someone just tapped him he would crumble into a thousand pieces. An immediate sense of dread filled his gut as Rika's glare got redirected to the brown haired delinquent. If Kazu didn't watch his mouth, the next female he'd be hitting on would be a shark.

"What did you just call me?"

"Hot stuff. Ya know, very pretty. As in, 'you wanna go out some time?'" What are you the captain's maid or something?"

Takato had half a second to get between the two as Rika quickly drew her pistol and leveled it at Kazu's head, which was now blocked by his own. He raised both hands in a peaceful gesture to try and calm the situation down. Sweat began to form on his forehead as his mind struggled to come up with the right words to defuse the bomb in front of him.

"L-Let's not be impulsive Rika. We don't want to do something we'll regret. Heheh."

"_Takato!_" Kazu whispered in his ear. "What are you doing? That crazy girl has a gun aimed at your head."

"That 'crazy girl' is _Rika Nonaka_ you numbskull." Takato sneered at him. Both Kazu and Kenta reeled back, both due to the name that had been dropped and that this was the first time Takato had been outwardly aggressive to them.

"Look Rika, I know these two can be a little dimwitted-"

_"Hey!"_

"But if you shoot them we'll only be drawing attention to ourselves. I mean, they aren't the most liked guys in town but people will notice the lack of mayhem if they just disappear."

Rika considered Takato's words while still keeping the pistol aimed at his head, or rather the halfwit behind it. He was correct; it would be suspicious if these two suddenly disappeared. Plus, with them being the only strangers currently on Shinjuku they would be the most likely suspects. So, much to her displeasure, she would have to keep the two alive…for now.

Takato breathed a sigh of relief as Rika placed the pistol back in her belt. The glare on her face remained however. He just hoped he could convince his two friends to not get on their bad side while they were still there.

"Fine, but they better not rat us out. Otherwise they'll be the first on my kill list," she threatened menacingly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't cause us any trouble."

"That's good," she replied smugly, before poking a finger at his chest. "Because you're the one who gets to babysit them until we leave."

With that she left the four friends to go oversee the first repairs on her ship. Kenta backed away from her as she passed him. Meanwhile, Jeri finished packing up the remains of her and Takato's lunch. She joined back up with the two delinquents and an exasperated Takato and stood to the side of them.

"So, you guys want to do anything?"

"Why don't we discuss how Chumley got a the Pirate Empress as a girlfriend?"

"Why does everyone keep insinuating that!?"

* * *

_One Week Later_

Rika stood at the helm of her ship as she looked out on her newly repaired ship. The main mast had been replaced along with some new sails. Any burnt floor boards had been replaced as well and she even managed to replace the cannons she had lost. Now they had enough in their inventory to last them at sea. The only thing they truly needed was a heading. Henry had been working on the next clue, but apparently it had been encrypted with a difficult cipher that he needed to figure out. He had suggested that they stay until he figured out a heading, but she thought they had overstayed their welcome already. Every day they stayed raised their chances of getting caught.

"Captain," shouted one of her crew from the deck below. "Supplies are all topped off and we're ready to get underway."

"Very well, tell everyone to get ready to set sail."

Rika looked out over the main deck of the ship. She saw her crew all hustle to their stations as they got ready to cast off. She then spotted Takato talking to Jeri on the gangplank. What really caught her attention was the large backpack on Jeri's shoulders. She made her way towards them to figure out what was going on. As she got closer she started to pick up parts of their conversation.

"Jeri are you sure you want this? What about your dad?"

"Takato, I'm not ten anymore. I can take care of myself."

"What's going on here?" Rika interjected.

Takato started to say something but Jeri quickly cut him off.

"Can I go with you guys on your adventure?"

Rika raised en eyebrow at the girl in skepticism. She wasn't entirely sure this was a good idea. Jeri was more courageous than she looked, but she wasn't sure the girl was ready for the kind of danger they'd be facing. Plus, there was one other issue…

"Like Takato said, what about your father? My reputation is notorious but it doesn't include kidnapping, and I don't care to add it to my list anytime soon."

"Wait, you're against kidnapping?" Takato questioned in shocked surprise. "Then what do you call the first time we met?"

"A blackmailed business arrangement, and if you recall I was originally going to kill you."

Takato opened his mouth and raised his hand to object, but she could see the gears turn in his head before clicking the memory into place. He instantly deflated with a defeated sigh. He mumbled a short concession that she could barely make out before the two of the turned back to Jeri.

"My dad said it was alright. So can I go _please_," she pleaded, giving Rika her signature puppy dog eyes.

*sigh* "Fine, you can come along."

"Hey, not without us!" a voice Rika had _unfortunately_ become familiar with shouted from below. Rika looked around Jeri to see Kazu and Kenta running up the gangplank. "We're not letting you have all the fun and riches."

"Why in the seven seas would I bring you two along?"

"Because if you don't then we'll go tell Hypnos who you are," Kazu declared proudly. Kenta looked unsettled; clearly the idea of blackmailing the Queen of the Seven Seas didn't sit well with him. Kazu, on the other hand, was either very brave or very stupid. "And you can't kill us because that would only tip them off anyway!"

Rika gritted her teeth and scowled at the two. Mostly because they were right, which meant this was the second time she'd be blackmailed into adding people to her crew. If they told Hypnos, they wouldn't make it very far before the organization's faster ship caught up to them and slowed them down enough for their heavy hitters to surround them. If she killed them, then that would tip them off anyway. It might take a while for the bodies to wash up on shore, but they were deep in enemy territory. Plus, if the next clue should lead them further in, then she would rather not have the entire Hypnos fleet on her tail.

"Fine," she conceded through her teeth. "But you have to follow my every order, _understand._"

The two men shouted in glee and high fived each other. They acted like they had just pulled one over on her, but Rika had a plan unfolding in her head. She would probably have them scrape barnacles off the hull, and then as soon as they were far enough out, she'd leave them on some island to starve. Although, that would mean she'd probably have to put up with protests to such action from the others. She'd have to see how much the two annoyed her. For now though, she'd help Jeri get settled in.

"Come on Jeri, let's get you set up in my quarters. No reason for you to have to share sleeping space with these numbskulls."

* * *

Rika recruited Renamon to help them set up a hammock in the captain's quarters. While Renamon was finding a spare hammock from below deck, the two girls were busy moving some furniture around. They heaved a small wardrobe that housed some of Rika's extra coats and weapons into a corner so they could hang the in front of where it stood. Rika then stepped up on a footlocker so she could hammer some heavy nails into two of the support beams above. She placed them far enough away from the wall that Jeri shouldn't swing into the wall while she was sleeping.

"So Rika," Jeri started to question hesitantly. "Why did you just let me join you guys? After all, it's not like I proved myself or anything."

"Well," Rika started as she got down from the footlocker and replaced it by the foot of her bed on the opposite side of the room. "I guess I see a little of myself in you."

"You do?"

"Yeah, we both know what it's like to lose a parent." Rika could sense Jeri tense up at the mention of that. She knew from experience that the topic was a sensitive one. "Henry informed me, probably to make sure I didn't say anything wrong by accident."

"What happened to your father?" At the very mention of him Rika froze. "I never really cared about Governor and Governess sort of things, but now that I think about it, I've only heard about your mother. Then your grandmother mentioned something about him 'disappearing.'"

"He's gone," was all she said, and in a tone that told Jeri to drop the subject. While she had technically been the one to bring it up, she had underestimated Jeri's inquisitiveness. In truth she didn't really know what had actually happened to her father. He was dead for all she knew and that was all anyone else needed to know.

Just then Renamon appeared in the room, startling Jeri, with a hammock in her arms. With Rika's help, she hung it from the nails and stepped aside to let Jeri test it out. The girl cautiously sat in the hammock, when she determined that it would hold her weight she laid down in at and relaxed.

"So how does it feel?" Renamon asked.

"Ah, it feels like sleeping on air."

"Well don't get too comfortable," Rika spoke up, an amused smirk on her face. "We still need to get the rest of your stuff put away. I'm pretty sure there should be enough room in the wardrobe for your stuff and mine."

Jeri then put on a pouty face as she got up.

"Oh fine. But as soon as we're done I need _you_ to do something." She declared pointing at the pirate captain. Rika kept her amused smirk and raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she folded her arms over her chest.

"And what would that be?"

"Tell me if there is anything going on between you and Takato or not?"

_"Oh for Shibumi's sake!"_

* * *

Rika had had a _long _talk between herself and Jeri to convince her there was nothing going on between her and Takato. Eventually the young woman had given up to Rika's stubbornness, though she didn't seem convinced. Part of her felt like she was lying to the girl, even though there wasn't actually anything going on.

"_But there could be."_ A small voice seemed insistent on nagging her from the depths of her mind. She tried to shake it out, but the sentence still lingered in her head. She managed to push away though as she gave the order to set sail.

At her command they had started to sail away from their home island. Rika deciding that the timing couldn't have been better; storm clouds had been forming over the heart of Shinjuku for a few days now. In the back of her mind she hoped everyone would be alright, the clouds were so thick that the sky was nearly black.

"Let's hope we can outrun this storm," Henry commented from her side on the aft of the ship. "I'd prefer to not have a repeat of the last time we sailed through one of those."

"Mm," Rika grunted in agreement. She had some experience sailing in bad weather, but it was still dangerous business. If the storm was half as bad as it looked, they'd have their work cut out for them.

It was then that something strange happened. The wind suddenly picked up and nearly blew a few pirates overboard. The canvas sails flapped violently in the hurricane force winds as an eerie purple fog fell over the island and surrounding waters. Rika used her arm to shield her eyes from the wind as she turned her gaze back to Shinjuku, instantly recognizing the signs of a digital field forming. Her eyes widened as she saw a bright green vortex forming in the sky above the central mountain of Shinjuku and a dark purple glow started to emanate from the clouds that surrounded it. She had never seen a digital field like this before in all her years of fighting Digimon.

Looks like they weren't going to leave Shinjuku just yet afterall.

* * *

**_There you all go, one more chapter to end the old year. Happy New Years everyone!_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Wow, two updates in two weeks. I should warn not to expect this kind of timeliness often, I just happened to get all my Midterm stuff done and didn't have work today. **_

_**So a little self promotion here, I recently got a Deviantart account and just posted a picture I made of Rika and Takato in a Windwaker art style. A link to my page is in my profile.**_

_**Last of all, Guest Review replies:**_

_**Guest: Glad you're enjoying the story and thank you for the well wishes.**_

_**Now, onto the story!**_

* * *

**Chapter 9: Deva Jones Locker**

* * *

Rika ran just behind Takato as he led the way through the streets to where the cataclysm was happening. Henry and Guilmon were right behind her with Terriermon hanging off of Henry's shoulders. Renamon was making her way across the rooftops alongside them. How she wasn't getting blown away by the wind was unknown to the pirate captain.

People barely paid them any mind as they scrambled in the opposite direction. Rika hadn't seen any Hypnos soldiers around and wondered if they would receive any interference from them on their way to the attack site. She hoped not. Whatever was happening was big and she didn't want to have to fight on two fronts.

As they got closer, the Tamers realized that the vortex seemed to be directly above Hypnos' headquarters. The winds started to die down as a dense purple fog formed around the top of the building. The vortex dispersed and a green crack appeared in the sky. Henry squinted and saw something drop down and onto the top of the building.

"Renamon, you're up!" Rika declared as her partner leapt up the side of the building. The kitsune reached the roof and looked around to try and find her prey. Meanwhile, Rika watched through her digivice to try and pick up any data on it that she could.

A feline shaped shadow skirted the edge of Renamon's vision, putting her on guard. Rika saw it as well and quickly searched through her cards to find something applicable. Takato beat her to it and handed her a digivolution card, which she swiped through her digivice.

**"Digimodify! Digivolution activate!"**

"Renamon Digivolve to—Kyubimon!"

Just as Kyubimon finished digivolving, a large yellow armored tiger leapt from the fog and attacked. Kyubimon just managed to dodge out of the way before attacking with Dragon Wheel. The tiger didn't even hesitate as he transformed his tail sansetsukon and batted her away and off the top of the building. Rika's eyes widened as she watched her partner de-digivolve and her form began to flicker. In all their years of fighting, Renamon had never been this close to death before. The pirate captain watched in fear as the kitsune crashed to the ground, creating a crater in the stone path.

"Renamon!" Rika ran over to her partner while the other two Tamers were stunned into silence. Rika knelt by the fox and just stared as she was helpless to do anything. "No, please don't die."

Renamon twitched as she grunted a response. "He's strong. Ultimate level, possibly Mega even."

"Alright," Terriermon declared as he leapt off Henry's shoulder. "Time to teach this kitty some manners."

Henry grunted in agreement as he drew the appropriate card from his deck.

"Terriermon digivolve to- Gargomon!"

The gun-toting rabbit leapt up to the roof with confidence, before swiftly losing it at the sight of the eerie setting around him. He glanced around to try and locate the prowling tiger. He heard something scuff the ground behind him and immediately spun around firing both of his gatling guns. The shadow quickly evaded him and disappeared into the fog once more.

After a few moments of silence Gargomon heard a _clink_ behind him. He turned just in time to evade an attack from the tiger and shot after him as the shadow dashed away. From below Henry could see that the tiger had wings and was using those to fly around to the other side of the roof. He yelled to warn his partner, but the rabbit was only able to hear him due to his long ears.

Gargomon turn and tried to shoot at the tiger, but both his guns clicked to sign that they were out of ammunition. Gargomon looked desperately at his gun, trying to will some bullets to spawn in the barrels, but nothing happened. He looked up just in time to see the tiger's tail swing towards him. The hit collided and just like Renamon it sent him flying off the roof and forced him to de-digivolve.

All three Tamers looked up in shock as their second champion level digimon was defeated. Henry cried out as he moved to catch Terriermon. The small rabbit plopped into his arms, twitching as he tried to hold himself together.

"My turn!" Guilmon shouted as he ran towards the building. Takato hesitated as his partner so easily rushed into combat. Doubt clouded his mind as he wondered if they were in over their head. Slowly he drew a card from his deck and ran it through the digivice.

"Guilmon digivolve to—Growlmon!"

After activating a hyperwing card, Growlmon flew up to the roof to confront the tiger. The red dinosaur looked around and spotted the tiger just escaping into the fog. He sniffed the air to see if his enhanced smell might be able to detect the digimon.

"Takato," Henry told him as Terriermon had whispered something to him. "He's like a shark, he circles around and attacks from behind."

"Got it," Takato acknowledged, giving his friend a thumbs up before turning back to the battle above.

On the rooftop, the tiger brushed past Growlmon to get behind him.

"Growlmon now!"

"Got it," the dinosaur replied as he drew his arm back to strike. "Dragon Claw!"

The glowing claw struck the tiger in his right flank, but while it did damage, it seemed to annoy the feline more. Growlmon quickly followed up with a Pryo Blaster, but it only stunned his opponent. The tiger quickly spun around and lunged at Growlmon. He sunk his teeth into the dinosaur's right shoulder and Growlmon cried out in pain.

Down on the ground below, Takato also cried out in pain as the feeling of being stabbed exploded in his right shoulder. Henry and Rika quickly turned towards him in worry and confusion about what was happening to him. The gogglehead clutched his shoulder in a desperate attempt to make the pain stop.

"What's wrong with him?" Rika questioned. Before Henry could answer though, Takato started to speak.

"Why am I feeling pain when Growlmon's the one who got hurt?"

A few seconds later, Takato collapsed to the ground. Certain that Renamon's condition was stable enough, Rika rushed over to Takato's side to check on him. The young man's words beforehand not helping put her mind at ease as she made sure he wasn't dying on them.

* * *

Takato opened his eyes and found himself floating in a strange dimension with a dark purple hue to it. Everywhere he looked there were these strange black clocks with only one arm. He started to panic internally, not knowing what was going on.

"_Tamer._"

He heard a voice call out to him that sounded eerily like Guilmon's. The main difference though was that Guilmon's voice usually had a happy tone to it. This voice was dark and ominous.

"_Tamer. It's not over yet_."

He turned once more and found Growlmon standing before him, but something was wrong. The right side of him was pitch black, and the black half of him appeared to be jagged and distorted. For the briefest of seconds, Takato even thought he saw a red glow from where his eye should have been.

"Growlmon? What's wrong with you? Why do you sound that way?"

Immediately the voice regained its naive happiness.

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I just thought this was a rather serious moment."

"It is a serious moment, but could you not use that voice." Takato replied, slightly more confused than he had been earlier.

"Okay, sorry. Anyway, as I was saying, I know I can take this guy, but I'm really going to need your help to do it. Are you in? I need your help Takato."

"Yeah, yeah I'm in," Takato replied, his courage strengthening with every word. "We will beat him, together. Growlmon! We'll fight one more time, together!"

* * *

Takato felt his hands grab onto something and he opened his eyes to see a startled Calumon in front of him. He glanced at his hands to see them grabbing onto Calumon's paw.

"Eh, oh hi Calumon," he greeted. Not even question what the little guy was doing here. Calumon just stared at him with wide eyes before calmly replying.

"Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

Meanwhile, Rika couldn't help but stare at the gogglehead next to her on the ground. One second he fainted and starting tossing while mumbling gibberish, and now he was talking to Calumon like nothing had happened. Also appearing to be momentarily oblivious to the battle they were in.

Everyone turned to the rooftop as the sounds of gunfire rang out, identifying the presence of Hypnos soldier trying to take on the tiger. They heard a few yells as the soldiers were clearly driven back. It would seem that even Hypnos' headquarters was ill prepared for the foe they were facing.

"Guns aren't doing anything against that monster." Henry pointed out. His frustration growing with how things were turning out.

"Genius observation," Rika retorted sarcastically. "Of course guns aren't going to work. Even Growlmon went down li ke a ragdoll against that thing."

"No," Takato grunted, drawing the others attention. "We're not out of this yet. We _will _continue to fight. Growlmon is still ready to go and even to my last breath I _will _help him fight. Now let's do this! **Matrix digivolution activate!**"

Takato drew a blue card that had fallen to the ground, no one knowing how it got there. He swiped the card through his digivice and it began to glow. Unnoticed in the background, the red triangle on Calumon's head also began to glow.

"Growlmon digivolve to—"

Growlmon glowed red as he started to change. His chest became encased in a strange bulky new armor. His mouth got replaced with a new metal jaw and his arms transformed into giant blades with metal hands.

"Wargrowlmon!"

There was an explosion as Wargrowlmon emerged; the tiger (only now revealed to be named Mihirimon) was caught off guard. After his shock had passed though, he quickly sprang to attack, swinging his tail in an attempt to overpower the Ultimate. Multiple strikes landed, causing not only Wargrowlmon, but also Takato to twitch and grunt in pain.

"How were you able to digivolve?" Mihirimon pressed his attack while speaking, secretly worried as his attacks appeared to be doing less damage than he had hoped. "Don't tell me it's because of that puny human. Fine then, Armored Tiger Tail!"

Mihirmon was stunned when his attack failed to strike, looking back to see that his tail had been caught by the armored dinosaur. He struggled to hide the panic growing inside of him. Wargrowlmon was the superior in strength and with his tail caught he had little hope to escape.

"You've been a bad kitty." Wargrowlmon chided him, before delivering the final blow. **"Atomic Blaster!"**

Two large red beams fired out of Wargrowlmon's chest and started blasting Mihirimon to pieces.

"You fool! Digimon could have been the master of both worlds, but you had to ruin everything!"

With one final yell Mihirimon was blasted into data particles. In the town below, everyone stared on in fear at whatever was happening. Meanwhile, Yamaki stepped out of his carriage to observe the battle's end. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he intended to find out.

* * *

With his job done for now, Wargrowlmon de-digivolved to Guilmon and leapt down from the roof to rejoin his friends. Terriermon was feeling much better and Renamon was back to standing on her own feet. The lizard then promptly tackled his tamer and began licking his face.

"We did it Takato! I knew we could!"

Takato turned his head away to prevent any of the dragon-type's drool from entering his mouth, but chuckled all the same. After giving the dino a congratulatory hug, he got back up and dusted himself off. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Rika with a worried look on her face.

"Are you alright?" She questioned him. "What was all that with getting hurt at the same time Guilmon was? There wasn't even anything here to hurt you."

"I'm not sure…" He replied, trailing off at the end. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure why he had been feeling Guilmon's pain. Neither of the other Tamers felt their digimon's pain.

"Well, don't do it too much alright," Rika chided him, lightly punching his shoulder as she did so. "I don't want to have to worry about you every time we get in a fight like that. Okay?"

"Um, okay. I'll-," he froze mid-sentence when his brain chose to recognize her word choice. "You…worried about me?"

Rika blushed and quickly turned away, folding her arms in front of her.

"Well of course I was worried. Who else am I going to blame if those two half-wits you brought on my ship cause trouble."

His first reaction was to take her seriously, but after a moment of thought he couldn't help but feel there was a different reason behind her worry. Was she actually considering him to be her friend? As in, an_ actual_ friend? His mind getting ahead of him, he then wondered if perhaps she thought of him as more than a friend.

He was disturbed from his thoughts by the sound of boots clacking against the stone streets. Squadrons of soldiers poured out from the Hypnos base and the surrounding streets. The soldiers surrounded the Tamers and their digimon before leveling their weapons at them. Henry and Takato looked around nervously, raising their hands in a non-threatening gesture. Rika's first instinct was to reach for the weapons in her belt, but stopped when she realized how outnumbered she was.

After about a minute, some of the soldier parted to allow Yamaki to step through. He scowled as his eyes ran up and down the Tamers and their digimon. He mentally scolded himself for not realizing that Janyu's boy was one of _them_. This certainly explained the boy's interest in Digimon and Shibumi's Treasure. The other boy he barely knew, although he thought he remembered something about his parents owning the bakery that Tally loved so much. He did a double take of the redheaded girl as alarm bells began to ring in his head. While they had never met in combat, he was familiar enough with the dreaded Queen of the Seven Seas to match up her description, and that of her Renamon.

"Men," he barked before raising a finger towards Rika and Renamon. "Take those two into custody."

All of the Tamers' eyes widened as several soldiers made their way forward. Takato stepped in front of Rika and took a defensive stance. Guilmon even stepped to his side and crouched down in an attack postion.

"What are you arresting her for? She just helped us defeat that digimon," he shouted at them in protest.

"Look kid. Out of respect for Janyu and his work, I'll give you and your friend the benefit of the doubt. However, this woman is a notorious pirate. While I'm sure that you were Shanghaied into Captain Nonaka's crew, _and _that you had good reason to hide your _digimon_. I can't let this woman roam free."

Takato looked about ready to rush forward and punch Yamaki, but Henry grabbed his shoulder to prevent him from doing so. Takato turned to Henry with a questioning look. Was he going to betray her just like that? Rika had trusted them, and he wasn't about to let them lock her up. He knew the stories about her; it was likely she would be hanged if they let Hypnos take her. However, Henry just stared at him with a serious look on his face and stiffly shook his head. While Takato wasn't the brightest person in the world, his brain chose that moment to recognize the intent behind Henry's eyes.

_Not now. We'll come up with a plan later._

Takato glanced around and realized that he was right. They were severely outnumbered and their digimon were still suffering from the fight before. He then looked over his shoulder at Rika. She stared at him for a moment before the corner of her mouth turned up and she gave him a small nod. With that, Takato stepped out of the way and the soldiers proceeded to cuff Rika and Renamon. The two pirates were led away into a carriage to be taken to the Shinjuku prison. Yamaki gave the order for his men to stand down and they proceeded to leave. Yamaki stayed behind, staring intently at the two remaining Tamers.

"Make no mistake. There _will_ be a discussion about this."

With those final words he turned and left the two men and their digimon. The shadows seemed to embrace him as he walked away, no doubt going to make sure Rika and Renamon were properly contained. He had a lot of work on his plate with all of the recent events that had occurred. The world's greatest pirate and her digimon captured, a portal appearing in the sky and an Ultimate level dropping from it, and to top it off he would undoubtedly have to answer to his superiors about Hypnos' inability to stop any of these things.

* * *

Renamon removed the blindfold from her eyes and looked around her new home. While she had been left blind her hearing had been left unaffected as her captors had led her to a different holding facility than Rika. Judging from the trip there it must have been a different holding area under the main prison.

The cell she was in appeared to be stone, but upon further inspection she found the walls to be layered. Stone reinforced by steel bars and then reinforced by another layer of stone. There was no window, leaving her in the dark if not for her natural night vision. The only door out was blocked by two gates of steel. Judging from the sound of chains when she was pushed in, it operated on a pulley system.

She heard the sound of shoes on stone and moved herself to the center of the room. She stood tall so as not to show weakness. She angled her eyes so that the light from the torch outside would reflect and give them an eerie glow. She would take any advantage, physical or psychological, over her captors that she could.

Yamaki stepped around the edge of the doorway to Renamon's cell and stared her down. He had to admire the kistune's resolve, but he had seen her at the battle. The Ultimate had done a number on her, so she wasn't going to be in a position to escape anytime soon. He would make sure of that.

"I take it I will soon be set up for destruction?" she questioned him. He had to give it to her, nearly killed, locked in a cell, and she still kept a calm, confident tone in her voice.

"Not exactly. You see, we don't capture alive digimon very often. You can guess that digimon that have a Tamer are even more rare."

"Oh really? Last I checked, one of your admirals was a Tamer."

"He's an exception. Due to his conditions for employment though, we aren't allowed to learn much from his digimon. That's where you come in." He could faintly make out one of Renamon's ears shift in curiosity. "There are people who would like to run some tests on you."


	10. Chapter 10

**C****hapter 10: Half Barrel Hinges**

* * *

After dropping off Guilmon and Terriermon at their old hideout, Takato and Henry met up with Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, Impon, and Calumon in the back corner of an abandoned alley. Four out of the seven's clothes were damp and Jeri tried to wring the water out of her ponytail. _The Ice Queen's Revenge_ and her crew had been put under guard by a Hypnos garrison. Their friends had only gotten off due to a rare moment of brilliance by Kazu. They had escaped by going below deck, lowering a rope through one of the canon-hatches, and swimming their way to freedom. Apparently Kazu's escape skills were useful for more than just skipping school.

"So, we have no captain, no ship, no crew, half of us are getting hypothermia, and we're stuck on the capital island of Hypnos." Impmon shivered terribly as he summed up their current situation, albeit exaggerating about the hypothermia. "So when are we gonna Badda-Boom the captain out Pinapple Head?"

Takato turned to Henry to indicate that it was his turn to take charge. He was hoping Henry had a plan at least. Otherwise the default was Impmon's plan, and charging one of the most heavily fortified buildings in Pacific Ocean wasn't his idea of a good time.

"We can't just go marching in there. Rika _is_ a wanted criminal and we should consider ourselves fortunate that they didn't arrest us as well."

"So, you're saying we should just leave her?" Jeri asked. While she hadn't know the pirate captain very long, the time they had spent showed that Rika wasn't as bad as the stories made out, at least not anymore.

Henry shook his head. "No, but if we don't want to be branded criminals ourselves then were going to have to play this carefully."

"Right! We'll wait for the day of her execution and then blast our way out!" Kazu gleefully suggested. Henry just deadpanned at him.

"You didn't listen to a word I said, did you?"

"We could fake her death so they wouldn't go through with the execution. Then when they throw out the "body" we can retrieve her and get away home free." Kenta suggested. Henry actually took a moment to run that idea through his head, bringing a hand up in his famous thinking pose as he did so. While the plan was clever in theory, in execution it was much more complicated. Plus there was simply too much to be left to chance for his liking. In the background, Calumon declared something about creampuffs saving the day, but no one paid him any mind.

"That's…would be clever. But how are we going to fake her death to convince them?"

Kenta opened his mouth to speak, but deflated when he realized he hadn't thought of any specifics to the plan.

"Well, alright then mister genius. What's your grand idea?" Impmon inquired.

Henry breathed a sigh of defeat, knowing the plan was going to have some serious repercussions. "I say we go to Governess Makino and inform her that Rika is her daughter and has been thrown into prison."

Four pairs of eyes grew wide and three jaws dropped to the floor. Takato couldn't believe Henry was suggesting they tell Rika's mother, something she had _expressly_ ordered them not to do. Impmon, Kazu, and Kenta couldn't…well, they just couldn't believe.

"Rika is Governess Makino's DAUGHTER!?" The three shouted out in question at the orange vested man before them. As the three stood silent while waiting for an answer, Takato took this moment to address the elephant in the room, or alley as it were.

"Henry, Rika was very adamant about her mother _not _finding out who she is. I don't think we should be breaking her trust like this, even if it does get her out."

"Look Takato," Henry spoke as he turned to face his friend, ignoring the stunned trio behind him. "If Rika really hates us that much afterwards, then I'll take all the blame. Right now though, Governess Makino is the one in the best position of power to demand Rika's release and with her help I'm sure we can at least work out some kind of deal with Yamaki. Besides, Rika has been running from her problems with her mother for years. Perhaps it's time something was done to mend the bridge between them."

Henry flashed a small smile at his friend as he tried to put a positive spin on the idea. Internally though, he had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy. He doubt Rika had a petty reason for running away from her mother, and regardless of how things turned out she wasn't going to let him off the hook easily.

* * *

Rika sat on the dirty stone floor of her cell with her legs crossed and her chin resting on one of her arms. Her uninterested lavender eyes stared out through the bars of her cell and into the dark brown eyes that were staring back at her. The two figures stared at each other for a few moments before Rika gave a sigh of boredom. A head of shaggy hair tilted to the side and the sharp clinking of keys echoed through the prison halls. The animal gave a whine of intrigue as it shifted its paws on the stone floor.

Yes, Rika Nonaka was having a staring contest…with a dog.

_"Didn't Sparrow say something about being stuck in a prison with a key guarding dog?" _Rika thought as her mind wandered to random topics due to her boredom. _"I wonder what happened to him. Or rather, I wonder how many times he's lost that ship of his since I saw him last? Sunk once, mutinied twice, and somehow got it stuck in a bottle. How unfortunate can a captain get?"_

The sounds of a commotion echoed down the hall and caused the two prison occupants to simultaneously turn their heads towards the source of the noise. A shrill voice seemed to be the louder and more dominant of the two. Rika's eyes widened in fear as the voice became clear enough for her to recognize.

_"No! Those two wouldn't. They wouldn't!"_

"Yamaki, I demand to see my daughter RIGHT NOW!"

_"They did."_

"Governess Makino, regardless of if she's your daughter or not, she is a dangerous criminal. I can't just-"

"Can it Yamaki! You're organization is based on this island which is under _my_ jurisdiction, and I order you to let me see her!"

There was a moment of silence before Rika heard the door to the prison open. She stood up so that she would be at eye level when her mother got here. The dog with the keys repositioned himself next to a bench on the other side of the hall. The sound of high heels clacked one the stone floor grew louder and soon a blonde woman in blue dress and wearing a large blue hat walked into view of the cell with a frantic look on her face. Upon seeing Rika she rushed to the cell door and grabbed the bars. Rika then noticed Takato and Henry walk into view behind her. Takato looked scared to death and Henry seemed uneasy. Rumiko looked her up and down, instantly recognizing the signature red hair and violet eyes.

"Ruki," she said in disbelief, her own violet eyes looking upon her daughter in pity. "It really is you. Don't worry. In a few minutes I'll have you out of here. We can go home and get you into a dress."

In that instant, Takato knew that this plan was a lost cause. He helplessly watched as the stern look on Rika's face turned to anger. She clenched her hands into fists as she stomped up to the bars of her cell.

"No! I am done with dresses and there is _no way_ that I am accepting your help." Rika said through gritted teeth as she forcefully grabbed the bars of her cell, causing her mother to back away. The governess looked in fear at her daughter's anger filled eyes. Not knowing why Ruki had turned so hostile, she hesitantly spoke up.

"Ruki, I haven't seen you in six years. Your friends told me everything and I want to help."

"Since when and why have you ever wanted to help me?"

Takato swallowed nervously, not liking where this was going. In Rika's eyes, he could see the years of anger she had been holding back.

"I've always wanted what's best for you. You are my daughter after all." That seemed to be the last straw as Rika's face turned livid.

"I WAS YOUR DOLL!" She screamed at the older woman. The governess backed away, aghast at her daughter's fierce tone. "I was just your plaything that you forced to wear stupid dresses and attend silly parties to make yourself look good."

With the onslaught of emotion Takato thought he could see tears starting to form at the corners of Rika's eyes and could hear her voice crack the slightest bit.

"You never cared about what I wanted, or what was best for me. The only things you cared about were attending to your duties as governess and throwing the most elaborate parties while showing off you _perfect daughter _to improve everyone's opinion of you. All just so you could make everyone forget about that scandal between you and dad!"

With that the imprisoned redhead pushed herself away from the bars and turned around to face away from her mother. The air was so silent and tense that a pin-drop would have made them jump. Henry looked between the two women, only now realizing the true severity of what must have happened between them. Rumiko was straight up shocked at the resentment her daughter had for her. Tears streamed down her face as she stared at the daughter who had turned her back on her. Fitting, as she now realized how she had turned her own back to her years before. When she spoke, it was barely louder than a whisper.

"Ruki-"

"_No_." The daughter stated, cutting her mother off. "I'm not Ruki…not anymore."

The pirate captain straightened her back before turning around and proudly declaring to the three on the other side of the bars.

"**I am Rika Nonaka: Digimon Tamer, Empress of the Pirates, and Queen of the Seven Seas!**"

Rumiko brought a hand to her mouth as she looked at the young woman in front of her. Henry observed the pirate captain with newfound admiration, now realizing why her crew was loyal to her. Takato stared in awe as his heartbeat quickened. Even behind bars, Rika still held an immense air of power, confidence, and beauty. After a few moments, Rumiko broke her somber gaze and walked away with her eyes downcast.

Once Governess Makino had left the prison wing, a tense silence filled the air between the three Tamers. Rika's glare shifted between the two, waiting for one of them to break the quiet atmosphere. Tentatively, Henry decided this was as a good a time as any to explain.

"Rika I-"

"Shut your trap Wong!" she snapped at him. "You're lucky I don't leave you on some deserted island to starve when I get out of here."

"We were only trying to help." Takato interjected, trying to defuse the situation. "Your mom was our only chance to get you out without provoking Hypnos to hunt us down."

The gogglehead flinched as the captain's glare turned towards him. Her eyes glaring daggers into his skull and causing his heart to skip a beat. It was probably going to be a long time before she forgave either of them for this.

"I don't care. I thought I made it rather clear that I didn't want my identity made public. Then you go and tell them anyway."

"Look, Takato had nothing to do with this," Henry defended. "This entire thing was my plan. I didn't realize that things between you and your mom were this bad. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well now I'm still stuck in here _and_ the secret I've been keeping for six years is out of the bag."

Before anyone could say another word, a tremor shook the ground and dust fell from cracks in the ceiling. The muffled sounds of running feet and soldiers shouting could be heard from outside. Rika dashed to the small barred window in her cell and looked out. A large amount of dust had been kicked up, but she thought she saw something white and purple slither through the trees. She turned back to her fellow Tamers.

"I'm pretty sure that's your queue."

"Right," Henry replied with a nod before running off to find Terriermon. Takato followed his friends for a few steps before turning back to Rika's cell.

"We'll back for you, so don't go anywhere."

Rika sweatdropped with a scowl on her face as Takato ran off to get Guilmon. After a moment she ran up to the bars and shouted through them.

"What do you mean, _don't go anywhere_? I'm in a cell!" She heard the door slam shut, not knowing if he had heard her or not. She glared at the door for a few seconds before letting out an annoyed sigh and shaking her head while muttering _"gogglehead."_ She shifted her gaze back to the dog who was still sitting outside her cell. "I don't suppose you're willing to let me out of here?"

* * *

_"'Don't go anywhere.' Why did I say that? Idiot, idiot, idiot, IDIOT!"_

Takato screamed at himself in his head as he ran outside of Hypnos' headquarters. The two men ran into little resistance on their way out with most of the Hypnos soldiers rushing to fend off the attack. Henry looked up at the dust cloud rising over the walls of the base. Takato in the meantime looked around the streets for any sign of their Digimon. Guilmon's nose and instincts usually gave him a heads up when Digimon showed up. Knowing his partner, the red dinosaur will make haste to get here, bringing Terriermon along with him.

Sure enough, Takato spotted his partner running towards him down the street with Terriermon riding on his head. As the Guilmon got close he skidded to a halt, throwing Terriermon off his head and into the air. The rabbit-dog flew through the air and used his ears to glide onto Henry's head.

"You ready boy," Takato asked as he took out his D-ark. The reptile nodded his head and gave a grunt of confirmation.

"Come on already. Let's go get another one up on Hypnos!"

The Tamers and their partners rounded the outside corner of the base and were assaulted by a dust cloud as the Digimon attacked the wall. Henry brought up his arm to shield his eyes while Takato lowered his goggles over his eyes. As the dust cleared they looked on to see the attacking Digimon was a giant cobra snake. It had snow white scales and a dark purple hood with gold markings. Hypnos soldiers fired their rifle from atop the wall, but their guns either missed or did little damage as the snake slithered in and out of the forest just beyond the base. Their D-arks flickered for a few seconds before displaying information about the Digimon.

"Sandiramon: Ultimate Level Virus Type," Takato read out.

"Another Ultimate level? We just can't catch a break can we?"

"Come on Guilmon, let's go turn this snake into a pair of boots."

Terriermon jumped off Henry's head as he and Guilmon rushed forward. Seeing that the two were going to need some help, both Tamers pulled out their modify cards. Henry selected a digivolution card and swiped it through his D-ark while Takato continued to look through his cards.

**"Digimodify! Digivolution Activate!"**

_"Terriermon Digivolve to… Gargomon!"_

**"Gargo Lasers!" **The rabbit leveled his gatling guns at the reptile and opened fire. The snake hissed in irritation as several of the bullets made contact. He turned his attention from Hypnos to the Tamers digimon.

"You would dare defy the devasss and ssssside with these filthy _humansss_."

Sandiramon slithered towards them and then swung the polearm he held in his tail at them. Guilmon ducked under the attack, but it struck Gargomon full in the chest causing him to fly backwards through the air. The weaponized rabbit landed a few yards away from Henry. Takato pulled a card out of his deck and swiped it through his D-ark.

**"Digimodify! Power Activate!"**

**"Pyro Sphere!"**

The charged fireball flew forward and hit Sandiramon dead center. The large snake reeled back and fell onto its back, his body starting to break apart.

"You may have beaten me _humansss_, but you will not stand a chance against the other ten devassss."

With that dying threat, the pale snake shattered into a thousand bits of data. Henry, Takato, and the Digimon stared as the red data particles floated into the sky. They were all surprised at how quickly the Ultimate was defeated. Granted, it had been fighting Hypnos for a good while before they had engaged.

"Hey look, there's more of them down there!"

The Tamers and their Digimon looked up to see one of the Hypnos soldiers pointing down at them. The four didn't even have to discuss their next course of action as they immediately ran away. They figured that having recently been attacked, a shoot-on-sight order was likely in effect. Hopefully they would be too busy assessing the damage to chase after them.

Meanwhile, the violet eyes of a redhead peered out from her cell. She had been watching the fight from her stone room. As reluctant as she was to admit it, Hypnos proved that they were capable of taking down a Digimon. Guilmon was powerful for a rookie, but even with a power boost he shouldn't have been able to take an Ultimate down in one shot. So Hypnos probably could have taken the snake down, eventually.

She then turned her head to the cell next to her. She scowled at it as her eyes moved over the stone bricks that lay across the floor. She then shifted her glare to the giant hole in the cell's wall. Had the attack that created the hole been ten feet to the left, she would have been able to run free with the others.

* * *

Takato, Henry, and the others met up at Guilmon's hideout. The two Tamers explained the turn of events to their friends while trying to catch their breath. Kazu, Kenta, and Impmon were disgruntled at the news. Jeri was disheartened, especially hearing about the tense relationship between Rika and her mother. It made her think about her own relationship with her step-mother. After her birth-mother's death, Jeri had a hard time accepting her father's remarriage; this resulted in a rift that separated the two. Perhaps she should treat her better once she got back from their adventure?

"So what is the plan now," asked Kenta.

There was a moment of silence as they all considered their situation. They all knew that their only option left was to bust Rika out and escape with haste. The only question left was when they were going to do it, and how. Henry was the first of them to speak up.

"For now we should play it by ear. I'll go see if I can talk to Rika's grandmother, maybe she can get through to Rika where her mother can't."

"You're dad was working with Hypnos right," Kazu inquired to Henry. "Maybe he can pull some strings with Yamaki to bargain a deal?"

"I'll see what I can do." Henry wondered what the conversation with his father will be like. He doubted his father would be thrilled at him sailing around with pirates. "In the mean time, Takato it might be best if you go to your parents. That way we don't have to resort to stealing in order to eat."

Takato felt a dead weight drop in his stomach but conceded regardless. He was _not _looking forward to having his ear screamed off by his mother. First he went missing, and then sailing with pirates, and now he's been home for weeks and didn't tell her. She wasn't going to let him hear the end of this. It wouldn't surprise him if she threw him in prison alongside Rika, just so he couldn't leave Shinjuku again.

As Henry and Takato set off to accomplish their respective tasks, the others discussed what they would be doing for the time being. Kazu, Kenta, and Impmon decided to wander off and explore the forests, while Jeri opted to stay behind to keep Guilmon and Terriermon company. As the group split up even more, a pair of red eyes glowered down at them from the branches above.

* * *

_**Guest Review Replies:**_

**Hypernova.5.0: _ I really like your idea, but it's still a bit too early to bring in Takato's Rage Mode. As you could guess from this chapter, the Tamers are trying to keep on relatively good terms with Hypnos. I may include some elements of your idea in a different story I'm planning though, with your permission of course._**


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